My Life as a Pokemon Trainer, The Latios chaser
by yySky
Summary: Response to "My life as a Pokemon trainer" challenge by Perfect Oblivion. Basically what the title says, it starts with me meeting a Latios which sparked my journey around Johto with the girl next door. My first Fanfic. Rated T for safety. -Hiatus-
1. The Pokemon I named Arrow

The Latios chaser

Chapter 1

Part 1: The legend begins

Who am I? You may ask, nobody significant, of course, or else you would have heard about me from somewhere. I'm just your average trainer; a little better than the average trainer, maybe, that's all there is to say now. A little rule building before the actual story, for this story, it's assumed that beating the Pokémon Gyms and travelling and all takes month, not hours, month, then it'll all make sense and will feel normal. (I mean seriously, you travel the whole state/region in what, 16hours?) The timeline for this story starts at some time after the time Ethan Gold got his 7th badge and was fighting off team rocket in Goldenrod.

Now let's get down to business.

*Are you a boy or a girl?*

*A BOY DAMMIT!*

Let's start with where it all began, no, not Pallet Town, nor Newbark Town or any other town that you may expect one to start journeys, I live in Blackthorn City, the home for dragon trainers, yup, you heard right, Blackthorn, home of the toughest Gym in Johto. I guess how it really started was my fetish for Dragon types, which… I guess every kid growing up under the effect of Lance and Clair's aura has as well. Oh, I realized I haven't really introduced myself, I'm Kira, 14 years old, on my 15th year, I have curled orange-brown hair—which gets really annoying when they're long— and brown eyes. I'm someone that you can call a nerd, I know of every Dragon type in Johto like the back of my hand (which isn't hard, only the Dratini-Dragonite evolution chain and Kingdra) as well as any Dragon type moves. I don't really have any close friends; I guess my mind just works out of step with everyone else's. Which is probably the reason why I liked to be alone all the time, I guess it's also the reason why I joined the Blackthorn gym as a Dragonkeeper apprentice, to get stronger and more independent.

As I trained, I found out that I was advancing faster than my peers, a "natural" at Pokémon training, as some of the higher ranked gym trainers call me. Maybe it's because I spend almost all of my time with my Horsea, training it, getting to know it better. Why did I pick Horsea as a starter? I didn't have a choice, Dragonkeepers work somewhat different from normal trainers that registers in the Pokémon League, the Dragonkeeper apprentices were given a Horsea as a starter and is then assigned to train under a specific senior Dragonkeeper, by senior I meant those with more advanced rankings. It's a pretty competitive system that keeps Blackthorn at the top, it also resulted in weekly ranking battles within the gym trainers, aka the Dragonkeepers and the apprentices, those above a certain rank will be allowed to represent the gym and face challengers.

So one of these days, I was reading up about Horsea evolutions at home when something caught my eye. That something flashed past the window of my apartment in a blur of white and green, and possibly made a sonic boom. Wow, I thought to myself, what was that? I leaned out of the window to see if it's still there, I didn't realize that getting more than half of your body out of the window could potentially result in a very painful fall, I was just so focused on that white-green blur, oh, by the way, did I mention that my apartment was on the 17th floor?

So I fell.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh—*cough**inhale*Ahhhh—Wha—huh?" You know, sometimes, being a lightweight guy has its advantages, for example, getting caught nicely by that white-green blur. Then it all went kind of hazy until that blur stopped— at the small grass patch in the middle of a lake. I fell off its back, looking dazed until I felt a hand patting my head; I looked up, and saw a… how could I describe it? It has a streamlined body, wings, and it was hovering, and… did I mention it was white and green in color? Oh and it kind of looked like an elongated arrow "Whoaaa! What are you?" Then I realized that was not a really nice way to a… Pokémon (I guess) that just saved my life. "Erm, hi, I'm erm Kira. What's your name?" I was still pretty dazed.

It responded with a gentle nudge on my stomach with its head prompting me to stand up. I sat up and stared at the strange Pokémon, wondering what type it is, from its shape, I guess it's probably a Dragon type, a weird one but still has the key distinctive features of a Dragon type, but then again, there are those that don't follow all these key characteristics I've learnt while undergoing Dragonkeeper apprentice training—one example would be the famed water-flying type, Gyarados. "Hey erm, are you a Dragon, by any chance?" I asked the strange Pokémon. It nodded, excited by this finding, I began to ask more questions, which ended with, "What gender are you?" You see although most trainers have this omnipotent thing called the Pokédex, the Dragonkeepers, like before, work somewhat differently, to the Pokémon league, I'm just another normal kid, not even a registered trainer. So since only registered trainers get a Pokédex to help their journey, I don't have a Pokédex to tell me all the information about this strange Pokémon.

"Say, is it okay if I call you 'Arrow'? Because you kinda look like one." I asked the Pokémon.

It gave me a weird look, but nodded its head in the end.

"Okay then I'll call you Arrow! Hi Arrow! Nice to meet you!" Which earned me another weird look from the Pokémon—I mean Arrow.

I was going to ask more questions but I was interrupted. "Hey you! What are you doing there?" I looked to the lake and saw a red-haired trainer approaching on a surfing Feraligatr. He couldn't be more than a year older than me but wow, a Feraligatr? Wow, that's pretty advanced.

"Oh erm hi, I was just getting to know my … friend here!" I pointed at Arrow.

"Your… Friend? Oh, you mean your Pokémon partner, which means you are a trainer, hey, you know what? I challenge you to a battle!" He smirked.

"Erm well, erm… well, Arrow here isn't really my partner, and I'm not an official trainer," I answered sheepishly.

"You look trainer-ish enough, come on! Feraligatr! Go! Ice Jaw!" He initiated the fight with that.

"Whoa! Wait!" But Arrow already charged in, it dodged to the right, making the Ice Jaw miss, reared up, and did a Dragonbreath.

The Feraligatr was knocked out instantly.

"What the… Useless weak Pokémon, return, Grr… Go! Haunter! Confuse Ray!"

But before the Haunter could do anything, a series of light flashes hit it, and it too, fainted.

At this point any sane trainer would have just stopped and begged for mercy, but no, this red haired guy just won't quit, so I watched in awe as Arrow single handedly destroyed his entire team.

"You'll pay for this!" Was the thing he said when he paid me 1200 Pokédollars as losing fee. "I'm Silver; remember it, 'cos I'll beat you one day."

"Ok, I'll remember it. By the way, I'm Kira. Let's have my rematch when I have my Pokémon with me—like I said, Arrow isn't my starter." I totally have no idea how big the damage his pride took.

"Humph." Was his response before surfing away on his injured Feraligatr.

That was two month ago, I've matured since then, and Arrow is all but a memory. One that I kept revisiting.

...

"_Oh wow Arrow, you're awesome!" _I remembered myself exclaiming after that battle._ "You know, we could totally be a team! We could even beat the elite four and become champions! What do you say Arrow?"_

_Arrow just stared with its weird look, however this time I can see some disappointment in these almond-shaped eyes._

"_Arrow, I'm serious! We can even beat Lance!" _

_Arrow did not respond, but picked me up, tossed me on its back and flew me back to Blackthorn City._

"_Arrow?" I was a bit surprised, but then Arrow took out an egg, where it took it out from, I have no idea._

"_Huh? You want me to have that?" I asked in surprise. Arrow nodded, handed me the egg, and flew off, I looked at Arrow's disappearing silhouette, looked back at the egg, mouth slightly open, but nothing came out. What was that all about? Did Arrow want me to raise this whatever is in this egg? _

_With my brain full trying to figure out what just happened exactly, I didn't even notice that I had walked to my house, I paused at the door, realized that I didn't bring my keys out when I fell out the window. I slapped my forehead and knocked on the door__,__ my Mum came out the door with a worried look on her face, "Oh my god, sweetie! Where were you? Do you have any idea how worried I was? What if—(insert __the endless verbal tirade of how I could have met with various accidents__ by Mum)"_

"_I was with erm —"How was I supposed to tell her some Pokémon entrusted me with an egg? Then I realized the fact that the very first wild Pokémon that I had possibly made friends with just left me. I managed to give a smile, said, "It's nothing Mum, I was just daydreaming and walking aimlessly again. I found an egg though." I felt like crying inside._

_...  
_

"KIRA! KIIIIRAAAA! Stop daydreaming! You have training to do!" Clair shouted and snapped me back to reality.

"Yes, yes, doing that now," My mentor's away on some trip that he won't tell me, so I'm stuck under Clair for now, not that I'm complaining though, training under Clair gives you results but… she's such a slave-driver! Today… Is the day that I'm going to make Vibrava's Sand Tomb perfect in order to start learning advanced moves like Dragon Pulse and such. "Okay, don't mess this up now Vibrava, Sand tomb!" With connections between the different regions increasing, we've got all sorts of new Dragon Pokémon from other regions coming in, so, as one of the guinea pigs, I've decided to choose Trapinch from Hoenn as my starter when I've won enough ranking battles to qualify as a rookie rank Dragonkeeper, and now, I'm one of the rare Dragon-ground type Keeper. Vibrava's sand tomb missed, I cursed, "Again!" As always, perfecting new move-sets on non-moving targets are a chore at the very least, not to mention boring. If it wasn't a must-train move in order to get Vibrava to learn the all-mighty Earthquake, I would not even bother.

Today is exactly two month after I saw Arrow, after my encounter with Arrow, I guess I got even weirder, I usually would be found staring out that same window, hoping to see that familiar white and green blur whishing past, hoping to ask what exactly should I do with the egg. Although after doing intensive research and getting the information on every other region's Pokémon, I still have no idea what Arrow is, maybe it is a never-before-seen Pokémon, maybe… I kept wondering… And the egg? It is still as solid as a rock, nothing changed about it.

Vibrava's sand tomb hit the target_ (finally!)_ , "Okay Clair, Vibrava's attacks hit, what now?" I half-shouted at Clair over the noise of the other gym trainers, they're training as well, some are making sure that their Dragonair masters the gym's signature move, Dragon Pulse, these guys are all way more advanced than me, other Keeper-apprentices are making their Horsea shoot Waterguns into the lava that constitutes this entire gym's lower floor (_what's the point of that anyway?) _

"Practice makes perfect! Keep doing it until it hits 100%!" She shouted back.

Yep, slave-driver, most definitely.

"We have a challenger! Chaaaalleeeennnngeerrr!" Screamed our PA system.

Every gym trainer stopped their training and snapped to attention, someone who dares to challenge the so-claimed toughest gym in Johto would be no pushover. Although Clair did lose to some guy with a Thyphlosion a week before, which is probably the reason she is putting us through this tough training regimen.

The challenger stepped in.

"So this is the famed Blackthorn city gym, now who wants to lose first?" My eyes widened, that red hair, that same smirk, could it be?

"Si—Silver?" I was shocked, I didn't think the trainer that Arrow completely destroyed would be showing up here, well then again it has been two MONTH. And two month of training work miracles. Of course, my voice was covered up by a sea of angry retorts from the gym trainers.

"Don't get too cocky! We gym trainers are tough!" and other similar stuff.

"Hmm what's going on? You know that challenger?" One of the other Keeper-apprentice and my neighbor, Lynn, asked me.

"Erm no, oh wait, I mean yes, well, he's more like… An acquaintance, I sort of won him in a battle once about two month ago. That's about it really." For some reason, every time I talk to Lynn, I get really nervous and start stammering. But I digress.

So the challenge begins, being non-high-ranked trainers, Lynn and I are stuck in the basement of the Gym, we can't actually participate in the Challenger battles or we risk ruining the Gym's reputation as the toughest one in Johto. Anyway, even if I battled him, I wouldn't have a chance, my team, as of now, consists of three Pokémon, my dragon starter, Vibrava—evolved from Trapinch, my starter, Seadra—evolved from Horsea, and the odd-gold-colored Charmander, which was hatched from this Pokémon egg given to me by Lance as recognition of "The most promising rookie trainer." When I won the inter Keeper-apprentice finals last month. So, three Pokémon, Vibrava, Seadra and Charmander. Which would have absolutely zero percent chance of winning against a team of Feraligatr, Ganger (oh the Haunter evolved), Magneton and probably the evolved form of Golbat and the other two Pokémon that he didn't send out yet.

From the display screen on the wall, Silver is actually doing quite well against the gym trainers, most of the high-ranked Dragonkeeper couldn't even hold 5 minutes against him, from what I've seen, the battles usually proceeds like this, Feraligatr uses Ice Jaw to 1HKO the Dragonair, then he switches to Magneton and roasts the Seadra.

"Wow, he's pretty good, are you sure you beat him two month ago? Shouldn't it be the other way round?" Being the curious one, Lynn started asking questions, again.

"…"

"Kira?"

"I had… unexpected help, and he wasn't so strong then, if I recalled correctly,"_ Yea, unexpected help as in this powerful unknown Dragon-type Pokémon I named Arrow__._

"So what was th—" She suddenly stopped talking. While we were talking, Silver finished the battle with the remaining gym trainers and is currently making his way to Clair, the atmosphere got tense and Lynn stopped asking questions, which was a relief because I didn't want to talk about Arrow now. We held our breaths, as Silver approached Clair.

"So you made it this far, I am Clair, the world's best Dragon-type master.(_Yea right…I bet she totally forgot about Lance._) I can hold my own against even the Pokémon League's Elite Four, do you still want to take me on?" Clair asked Silver.

"Of course, I didn't come all the way here for nothing, Clair! I challenge you!" Silver shouted.

"…Fine. Let's do this! As a Gym Leader, I will use my full power against any opponents!" With that, the battle began.

"Go! Gengar!" Silver shouted as he pulled out a Pokéball and tossed it in the air.

"Gyarados!" As always, Clair chose to send out Gyarados as her first Pokémon.

Silver doesn't even look a little bit intimidated before the huge water Dragon. "A Gyarados eh, easy. Gengar! Thunderbolt!" Gengar began to spark and let lose a Thunderbolt.

"Gyarados! Dodge it!" Clair shouted, but Gengar was too fast for Gyarados, it took the Thunderbolt full force and swayed on the spot for a moment, before falling to the ground with a huge "CRASH" sound, smoking.

_That Gengar was so fast! _I thought to myself.

"No matter," Clair said, pulling out another Pokéball, "It won't be easy now!" she looked at the Pokéball in her hand for a moment, "Dragonair! Take the battle!" and let out one of the most elegant dragon types.

"What makes you think it won't be easy? Feraligatr!" The familiar hulking blue figure appeared from its Pokéball.

"Dragonair, Thunderwave!" This time, Clair initiated the battle, Dragonair began to charge a blue-colored spark on top of its head.

"Feraligatr! Dodge and use Ice Jaw!" Feraligatr failed to dodge the Thunderwave, and got paralyzed.

"Take this chance! Dragonair, Dragon Pulse!" Dragonair opened its mouth and let out a shock wave. Being paralyzed, Feraligatr was hit by that Dragon Pulse, it crashed to the floor.

"Feraligatr! Stand up! NOW!" I heard Silver shout.

"Hey Kira, was that Silver guy so mean to his Pokémon before?" Lynn asked me.

"Well I don't know, maybe he's caught up in the moment, anyway, let's just watch the battle, it's getting exciting." I brushed her off.

I turned my head back to the screen just as Dragonair was knocked out by an ice beam, _What?_ I looked closely at Silver's Pokémon, he had this black Pokémon out, and from the Ice Beam I just saw, it's probably an ice type.

"That was a fluke, Dragonair!" Clair sent out her second Dragonair.

"Oh come on, you know that if I can defeat your Dragonair once with Sneasel, I can do it again." Silver smirked. So that black Pokémon was called Sneasel.

And like what Silver foretold, Dragonair was defeated by another Ice beam launched from Sneasel.

"One Pokémon left? This is where the REAL battle begins!" I sensed a hint of agitation in her voice as she sent out her Kingdra.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that. Go Gengar!" Silver put on his smirk again, returned Sneasel, and sent out the Ghost type again. "Shadow ball!" Silver ordered Gengar.

"Surf! And follow up with an Ice beam!" I could tell that Clair has a foul mood now, she has that mood whenever she was going to lose.

Although the Ice beam managed to catch Gengar by surprise, Gengar's Shadow ball managed to graze Kingdra as well, Kingdra looked pretty worn from that attack.

Seeing Kingdra's condition, Clair became desperate. "You're kidding, right? I—I was supposed to win! I've already decided!" I shook my head, _it's over._ Sure enough, Kingdra went down when another round of Thunderbolt from Gengar hit it.

"I lost…? I don't believe it. Th—there must have been some mistake" Clair was pretty shaken.

"It's no mistake, Dragon-_master_." Came Silver's sarcastic reply.

"Alright, here's the rising badge," She took out a Dragon head shaped badge from a case full of similar badges, "I usually would have sent you to the Dragon's Den for a test before giving you the badge, but…" She trailed off. I guess it has something to do with that other trainer with a Thyphlosion she sent off to meet the elder a week before.

"Humph, so much for the so-claimed strongest gym in the region." Silver took the badge, the reward money and left with an arrogant smirk.

"You know Kira, I don't really like him, He's a big jerk for insulting us!" Lynn's face was slightly red from anger, with looked quite cute, oh wait, what was I thinking?

"Ah, yes, he…he's not the nicest guy, that's for sure." I stammered, slightly embarrassed by my thoughts.

Lynn just stared at me questioningly.

To my relief, the day—what's left of it— passed without much incident.

...

That night, I just couldn't sleep, so I changed out of my pajamas into my usual wear, jeans and a shirt, since it was cold out, I put on my jacket as well. I carefully stepped out of the house, making sure that my Pokéball belt doesn't make too much noise, else my Mum would wake up and god knows what she is going to say. Once outside, I began walking aimlessly, just to tire myself out so I can fall asleep. I saw some patches of tall grass, which I thought was weird, how can there be any tall grass in the town—

"Oh." I did a facepalm, "Nice going genius"; I said to myself, I lied down on the grass, looking at the stars that dot the skies of Johto, enjoying the stars and the night in the mountains.

"Talking to oneself, now that's one of the early signs of insanity." I jumped up and spun around, and saw Lynn standing behind me, smiling, she is wearing a pink sweatshirt and tight fitting jeans.

"Lynn? What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"Can't sleep, Clair's battle with Silver just kept coming up in my brain for some reason." She said. "Same there?"

"Yea, I was thinking, we shouldn't stay like this anymore, we should get stronger as well, Clair can't cover for us forever, as we witnessed these few weeks." I said while lying down again.

"So what do you want to do?" she said, lying down and turning her body to face me to talk to me better. I stared at the stars, and said, "I feel like we should start our own chapters, you know, like participating in the Pokémon league and stuff." I turned around, and found my face inches from hers. I blinked a few times, realized how intimate that position was, then turned around with a flushed face.

"What's wrong Kira? Something wrong with my face?"

"Y—yea…I mean, no, anyway, ahem, like I just said, we should get stronger and not depend on Clair to train us, so the fastest way would be to travel Johto and take on the Pokémon league challenge," I considered for a moment before asking, "Soyouwannacomewithme?" I blurted out.

"Sorry, what?"

"Nevermind." I let out a sigh.

After that we began to talk about other things, like how our neighbors fought, how cute was her Horsea and other boring stuff that I'm sure you won't want to hear about. We didn't even notice the point that we fell asleep.

The next morning started with Lynn shaking me and half-shouting, "Kira WAKE UP! It's 10.42!"

"5 more minutes, Mum", I turned in bed and found myself breathing in mud, MUD? I woke up instantly, "Yuck! Mud? Oh man." I wiped my nose, but ended up having my whole face full of dried mud.

"Come on! Let's go!" Lynn grabbed my hand and started dragging me back to Blackthorn.

At Blackthorn, she dashed off before I can even ask her to find out what's going on. I sneaked home, finding my Mum's door still closed, I breathed out a sigh of relief, now to bathe and change my—

"Kira, what happened to your clothes? And why is your face full of mud?" Dammit. Guess there's no escaping, I told her how Clair's loss led to my insomnia, which made me think about my life and the noble conclusion that I came up with, carefully leaving the part about Lynn keeping me company.

"So good of you to have thought about your life, Kira, I was getting worried that your life goal was to be a gym trainer" My Mum suddenly turned loving, "I'll go ask Clair to give you permission to leave the Gym and start on your own adventure; after all, we were—are best friends when we were training to be a Dragonkeeper."

I felt my mouth open slightly. "Thanks, Mum, really appreciate it." Was the only thing my shocked self said. _Mum and Clair were best friends? She is a Dragonkeeper! _My second thought was, doesn't Clair have some gym leaving test? I had better start preparing then!

...

A/N Well that's it for chapter 1/Prologue, this is my take on the "My life as a Pokémon trainer" challenge by perfect oblivion combined with some ideas from a friend. Kira's pretty much based on myself, Lynn's based on my GF when she was still my crush (no, really, she really was oblivious on such stuff), Kira's mum is well, based on my mum. Would really appreciate some reviews! Oh I welcome grammar Nazis too :D


	2. Day before departure

The Latios chaser

Chapter 2

Part 1: The legend begins

"Vibrava, use Sand Tomb again to finish it off," I ordered Vibrava to keep on training on the Gravelers that were in Route 45, the route that is also called the mountain route. Which might possibly explain the question why is it that there are only Gravelers, Geodudes and some bear Pokémon that I could not identify here. Not like I have any other choice, only an idiot would train dragon Pokémon in Ice path, and Dragons' Den is too crowded for my liking. I walked around in the tall grass, where Pokémon are supposed to be hiding, oh hey, an item on the ground! I picked up the bottle, its label read "elixir". Elixir? Isn't that one of these potions in novels that give those who drink it immortality? I then read the side label, "for restoring Pokémon from their tired state." And once again I felt like an idiot, I shook my head and continued to find my next victim—I mean the next Pokémon to train Vibrava on. Another Graveler appeared, as usual, I sent out Vibrava, only to find that it looked a bit agitated this time. I can't sense what is bothering it, but I knew something was wrong with it, but before that.

"Dragonbreath" I said to Vibrava and the Graveler fainted. I bent down, wanting to see what is going on with Vibrava exactly, "Hey buddy, what's wron—?" A bright light suddenly surrounded its body, I looked, mouth slightly open in surprise_._ I watched as its body grew bigger, its tail and wings growing longer and it changed to an upright position instead of going on all fours. I quickly took out the manual that came with Trapinch's Pokéball, turns out that Trapinch's final form of evolution is named Flygon, a Dragon/Ground-type. Flygon… I thought dreamily… then I noticed something peculiar, my Flygon looked somewhat different as compared to what's on the manual. Instead of the normal green color scheme, my Flygon has a relatively weird coloring, its wings has a lighter shade of red lining it and all the parts that were supposed to be dark green are now light blue. Another odd-colored Pokémon? What are the odds? And I thought changing colors while evolving is impossible. Flygon looked at me questioningly, probably wondering what is with my frown.

"Oh it's nothing Flygon," I gently patted its head, "So you finally evolved… Think we're ready to take on the Dragon master challenge?"

Flygon gave a soft growl and nodded its head. "But before that…" I sent out Seadra and Charmander, "Hey guys, meet Flygon, it was the former Vibrava!" Seadra gave a happy squirt of water, but Charmander, however, took a step back, "Huh? What's wrong Charmander?" From its face, I'll say that it looked absolutely terrified of Flygon, but then again it was just a baby hatched not more than a week ago, so I put off training it until it matured more, but that also resulted in it getting a relatively timid nature. Like, for example, now.

"It's okay Charmander, it was Vibrava! Remember how you used to ride on it when you were just hatched?" Charmander looked skeptical but walked up to Flygon anyway, Flygon bent down its head, allowing Charmander to touch the tip of its nose. After a while, Charmander gave a happy growl and hugged Flygon's neck.

"Glad that worked; now let's continue being a happy family, okay guys?" My three Pokémon cheered in union. "Alright then, let's go take that test!" I turned around, and came face to face with another Graveler. I smiled, returned Seadra and Charmander to their Pokéballs.

"Time to test your powers Flygon, Sand tomb!" Flygon nodded, and… _WHAT THE HELL?_ What came out was an Earthquake! The Graveler fainted instantly. After the earthquake settled down, I found myself covered with small rocks and dust, note to self, _never_ use Earthquake in the mountains. Flygon looked surprised as well, "O-okay, Flygon, let's remember that you are a big Dragon now, and you know Earthquake, so try not to use it in the mountains to prevent landslides, ok?" Flygon nodded, looking somewhat embarrassed, I returned it to its Pokéball and sighed. Time for another round of nagging from mum on safety procedures while being outside, especially since I was going to have a Journey soon…_I hope._

I walked back to Blackthorn, went to the Pokémart to sell off that Elixir for some money and guess who I saw at the entrance when I came out of the Pokémart? "Hey Lynn!" I greeted her.

"Oh hi Kira, been out training?" She said with a cheerful tone, holding two small boxes.

"Yea, guess what? Vibrava evolved! It's Flygon now!"

"Wow! Congratulations!" Then she looked as if she was thinking about something. "Hey Kira, I was going to give you this for your upcoming birthday, but you know what? I'll give it to you if you pass the Dragonkeeper test!" She lifted one of the boxes she was carrying.

"What is it?" I asked

"It's a secret," She winked. "Ok then, see you! Remember that I'll be rooting for you!" With that, she ran off. Why is that girl always in such a hurry?

I shrugged and made my way towards the Pokémon center, actually, it was almost like my first time there, because the Keepers are supposed to take care of their own Pokémon, but I figured since I'm going to start an adventure anyway, early experiences won't hurt. The door slid open, and the cool air-conditioned air blew at my face, I stood there for a moment, enjoying the refreshing change of environment, before I realized there's an old man staring at me. "Yes? Do you want something?" I politely asked the old man although I was thinking: _what are you staring at?_

"Deep inside far-off Indigo Plateau is the Pokémon League, I heard that the best trainers gather there from around the country." He said, "Are you going there too? Because you look like a strong trainer." _Gee, nice to have someone finally saying that I look strong, _although it could potentially the result of me being covered with dust and small rock fragments. Summoning the best smile I could have without looking fake, I said, "No, sir, I'm still a rookie, but I'll keep that in mind once I'm strong enough," I walked up to the nurse at the counter, faintly hearing him muttering to himself, "I really should not judge people by their looks…."

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon center, we restore your tired Pokémon to full health, would you like to rest your Pokémon?" The nurse asked when I walked up.

"Yes please," Giving her Flygon's Pokéball.

"Okay, I'll take your Pokémon for a while." She said cheerfully, handing the Pokéball to the Chansey, which ran inside the Pokécenter with it.

I walked to the nearest table to while waiting for my Pokémon and started thinking about the upcoming Gym-leaving-test. What is Clair going to throw at me? I began listing out some potential challenges, she could make me battle her, but that'll be too hard for a rookie, she could also make me go that that Dragon master aptitude with the elder, she could also make me battle my mentor, but he's away on a trip… Hmm guess I can't really anticipate what's going to happen.

"Excuse me," called the nurse, making me look up. "Your Pokémon is all healed."

"Thanks," I said to the nurse while taking Flygon's Pokéball from her.

"We hope to see you again!" She called out while I walked out. Wait a minute, isn't that kind of horrible to say? You _hope_ to see my Pokémon getting hurt so I'll have to come back? I shook my head, never mind, she probably did not realize that message behind her greeting.

I walked back to the Dragon Gym, realizing that my stomach is in a tight knot, _Calm DOWN! _ I thought to myself, getting nervous won't help! Inside the gym, it almost looked like… Oh no… The test is… Making me fight ALL the Dragonkeepers? Some of the highest ranked Dragonkeepers are standing in the Challenger battle formation.

"Hiya future Dragonmaster! Now, Clair uses the mystical and powerful Dragon-type Pokémon, you can't damage them very easily—why am I telling you this? You already know that! Just remember type advantages while battling!" The dude at the reception said.

"Thanks." I replied, although I can't really say anything else now because of my extreme nervousness.

At closer inspection, I was relieved that at least the floors are at their normal arrangement, not all jumbled up while they are in challenger mode, so I walked up to the first Dragonkeeper, he's Paulo, not one of the highest rank, nor intellect, in my opinion, but he sure talks like one. "Your first battle against Dragons?" The idiot asked, completely not recognizing me.

"Well actually—"

"I'll show you how tough they are!"

"W—what? Wait a minute!" I shouted as he sent out his Dratini, fine then, today's the day that I prove that I'm not a pushover! "…Fine, Flygon! Take the skies!" I released Flygon.

He ordered his Dratini to use Thunderwave while I ordered Flygon to use Dragonbreath. Obviously, being a ground type, Flygon wasn't affected by the Thunderwave, but his Dratini fainted from Flygon's attack.

"No way, you cheated! You did some black magic sorcery to make your flying type immune to electric type moves!" I slapped my forehead upon hearing that…_Idiot._

He sent out another Dratini and ordered it to use Thunderwave, _again_, "Oh come on! How stubborn can you get? Ok let me tell you! Flygon is a GROUND type! Hear me? GROUND! Flygon! Dragonbreath!" …and the Dratini was knocked out by the flame look a-like shot from Flygon.

"How can something so obviously a flying type be a ground type? You're just dissing me, aren't you? I may be dumb, but I'm not that dumb! Go Seadra!" _I mentally did a facepalm, seriously, I pity his Pokémon. _

"Then I'll show you, the reason why you are wrong. Earthquake!" I ordered Flygon. It jumped up, and slammed onto the ground, thankfully, the gym is sturdy enough to withstand the earthquake. Seadra looked extremely worn from that attack, however it still hung on and used the Watergun Paulo ordered. Flygon just shook it off like it was taking a bath, "Faint attack." I said to Flygon to end this pointless battle. Flygon disappeared, and seemingly teleported behind Seadra, where it landed a knockout blow.

"No way… I guess it's too bad then," He muttered while handing me $1200 as reward money.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you." I laughed and said, "Seriously, Flygon IS a ground type," and walked on.

"Hey!" Shouted another Gym trainer, ahh Lola, one of the top ranked Dragonkeeper, she's—"Dragons are sacred Pokémon, they are full of life energy, if you're not serious, you won't be able to beat them." _You kidding me? Am I such a shadow that nobody even notice that I work in the Gym?_

"So I guess I have to battle you too?" I asked, sending out Flygon.

"Of course," she smiled and sent out a Dratini.

"Typical," I said, ordering Flygon to use Dragonbreath. The Dratini fainted like what I expected.

"Whoa, guess you really are serious, okay, I'll get serious too! Dragonair, go!" Like I said before, I really admire Dragonair, it just looks so elegant. "Hello? Stop daydreaming and battle already!" She urged me impatiently.

"Oh right, sorry, I really like Dragonairs, but, a battle is a battle, Dragonbreath!" I ordered Flygon as Flygon shot another powerful breath from its mouth, the move severely weakened the Dragonair, but it was still hanging on, which resulted it using the Dragon Pulse Lola ordered. Now at this juncture I must reiterate the fact that Flygon IS a dragon type as well, and the move somehow hit more than it should, Flygon fainted from the attack, I cursed, while Lola just smiled.

"Don't think I only have Flygon. Your opponent is weak! Seadra, end it with Twister!" I ordered Seadra, but, however disbelieving I was, the Dragonair was still able to battle after that twister, "Hyperbeam!" Lola shouted. _Oh god no, Seadra hang on! _But it fainted from the powerful beam attack. Guess I have no choice, "Sorry Charmander, you'll have to try!" I said as I desperately sent out Charmander. The golden Charmander came out of its Pokéball, looking somewhat confused and then turned back to me, shock and terror written all over its face. "Come on Charmander, at least try! Dragonclaw!" Being a hatched Pokémon, Charmander knew Dragonclaw for some reason. Luckily for me, the Dragonair was still unable to move after hitting that Hyperbeam, and the Dragonclaw managed to knock out Dragonair.

"Thank you Charmander, I owe you one." I breathed a sigh of relief, however at that point of time, Charmander began to glow, "Whoa no way! You're evolving after defeating a single Pokémon?" I watched as his figure began to change from his familiar look to something a little different, its body is bigger, its tail grew longer and it grew a horn on its head, its color however, is orange, which is odd for Charmeleons which are usually red. "Wow, a Charmeleon, guess you can officially start participating in future battles huh, Charman—I mean Charmeleon." The orange Charmeleon spit out a tiny fireball, looking kind of annoyed, I shrugged and returned it to its Pokéball. I turned to Lola, "Guess I have to thank you."

Lola just grinned and said, "Way to go! By the way, you probably noticed, Dragons are weak against Dragon-type moves"

"You didn't say… Ok, thanks, see you around!" I bid goodbye to Lola as I dashed out of the Gym and to the Pokécenter.

I would love to describe the most interesting journey I had while travelling back and forth from the Pokécenter and the rest of the uneventful battles I had with other Dragonkeepers, but it would bore you out, so let's just skip ahead to my battle with Clair, or at least, what I thought would be a battle with Clair.

"So you managed to make it here Kira, my policy with this gym is that I only get the best of the best leave under the title of a true Dragonkeeper, and today, you have proven yourself to be worthy of that title, so this Rising badge… take it to mark your graduation from the gym, however, if you ever consider challenging the elite four, come back here, I'll then access you and your team's abilities." She paused for a while, and then took out a disk, "Take this TM, it contains Dragon Pulse, no, it doesn't have anything to do with my breath, it's for Flygon, give it to Flygon when you think it's ready." She smiled.

"Wait, no battle?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Kira, as strong as you are, you still can't match up to my team yet, so get the seven other badges before coming back here." She said, still smiling.

"I—"I wanted to say something about the strength of my team, but stopped myself, she's right, I probably can't beat her right now. "I don't know what to say, Clair, but, thank you for your guidance the past two months, I won't ever forget it." I said as I received the badge and the TM from Clair.

"Now, let me 'guide' you on the next part of your journey, haha, as soon as you think you're ready, head down route 45, and you'll reach a town called Newbark town, find Professor Elm's Lab in that town and he'll help you to officially register for the Pokémon league. Oh, say hi to Grace for me!" She smiled and pushed me to the teleporter beside the battle arena, Grace is my mum, in case anyone's wondering.

I stepped out of the gym and made a beeline for the Pokémon center, my Pokémon need some serious healing after beating some of the highest ranked Dragonkeepers.

"We hope to see you again!" I ignored that horrible statement and made my way home.

…

"Congratulations Kira!" Was the first thing I heard when I stepped in my house, Mum walked up and gave me a hug, while Lynn grinned happily. "We heard the good news! This calls for a party!"

"Uh wai—" I tried to comprehend the situation but—"Pi-chow!" The Pichu my Mum kept at home pounded on my head, its tail swishing in front my face, causing me to lose my balance and fall over. Luckily, my living room was kind of small so I fell right onto the couch. I picked the tiny Pichu off my head, "Sparky, you seriously need to behave! Especially when there's a guest around," I pointed at Lynn. Sparky eyed me mischievously, as if saying _I know exactly what you are thinking,_ and let lose a small Thundershock.

"Kira, you need to relax, don't be so serious all the time!" Lynn laughed while picking Sparky off me, "Now who's a cute Pichu, yes you are! Sparky you are the cutest!" Sparky squealed while rubbing its cheeks against Lynn's.

"Y-yea, l-lik-ke t-that's-s e-ever gon-na wor-rk." I tried my best to stand up, but being semi-paralyzed from Sparky's Thundershock, fell over again. "S-seriously, I don't know why that Pichu likes you so much while it uses me for target practice." Sparky stuck out its tongue at me while Lynn laughed again.

"Maybe she sees me as her mum, right Sparky? Do you like Mummy?" Lynn said while holding Sparky and rubbing noses with the Pichu. I sighed, and saw Mum enjoying the show. I made a _Mum control your Pichu!_ look. Which made mum smile. "You two look cute together." Mum's comment made me blush while Lynn, still playing with Sparky, replied "Oh really? Pichu must have really contributed to that! Haha, Sparky let's go play with Horsea! Is it okay if I take Sparky around, Grace?"

"Sure, be careful now! And come back in time for Kira's dinner party!" My mum called after her. She insists that people around call her Grace, she thinks the other way of calling her makes her appear old.

There is still a few hours before dinner, so I told Mum I was going out for some fresh air, then went out of the house with a fresh change of clothes, I need somewhere quiet to think about my future plans. I guess the only quiet place around here would be the mountains, so I headed there.

…

Now you're probably wondering what happened to my dad since he did not appear even once yet, you see, My dad went to Kanto to work as a staff of the Power Plant in Cerulean when it was refurbished. The pay is good, that's all he tells me, so he was effectively out of my life since I was 12. Although he occasionally comes back to visit, his work is so hectic that he stays no longer than 2 weeks. So all the influences around me are mostly just my Mum, Lynn and Lynn's mum before I joined Blackthorn Gym, it is a miracle that I didn't turn out all feminine.

…

It felt like I have used up all my luck during the Gym challenge, really, because for the next 40 minutes or so I have been challenged by various hikers, campers and youngsters, when all I need was somewhere quiet. The only positive side to that was that I managed to train my newly evolved Charmeleon.

"Argh would you leave me alone already!" I shouted as _another_ trainer came up to me.

"Huh, all I wanted is a battle! Would you turn down the challenge of an Ace trainer?" She asked, sounding hurt. I turned around, and saw a trainer dressed in maroon, so these are the rumored Ace trainers, I heard they pose quite a challenge.

"Alright, I accept your challenge then." I said, sighing and taking out Charmeleon's Pokéball again, I need to get Charmeleon trained up to match the level of the rest of my team.

"I'm Kelly, so what is your battle strategy? It's foolish to use strong moves indiscriminately." She sent out a Marill.

"I'm Kira, and my strategy is just that, Charmeleon use Dragonclaw!" I mean, isn't it better to just use strong moves to end the battle early? Why use status moves and stuff when you can just knock out your opponent's Pokémon straight away? The Marill fainted from Charmeleon's sharp claws.

"Aww bummer, and Marill had a type advantage, too. Hmm, let's see you attack indiscriminately now, Wartortle!" She grinned as she sent out her Wartortle. "Watergun!" The jet of water managed to graze Charmeleon, wearing Charmeleon out, forcing me to improvise, "Fine, then strategy change, Charmeleon, smokescreen followed by Flamethrower!" I'm sticking to ranged attacks, going in melee is just too risky for now. The smokescreen managed to blind the Wartortle, making the next few Waterguns miss, while it took the full force of Flamethrowers after Flamethrowers. When the Wartortle finally fainted, Charmeleon looked on the verge of fainting as well, having used so many strong moves in a row. I totally did _not _expect it when she sent out _another _Wartortle. I cursed, returned Charmeleon and sent out Flygon, the uniquely colored blue and green Dragon gave a roar.

"You have a rare Pokémon from Hoenn? That's an eye-opener. But I'm not going down so easily! Wartortle, use protect!" She ordered her Wartortle just as Flygon's Dragonbreath hit. Resulting in a mini-explosion. When the dust cleared, Wartortle looked completely unharmed, Kelly grinned, "Strategy, see the importance of it?"

"I'm beginning to see your point, let's use some strategy as well Flygon, get some distance away from Wartortle!" Flygon flapped its wings and took a battle stance in front of me. Wartortle does not have much long range moves and Watergun loses its effectiveness at about 20 meters, personal experience from training Seadra back in the days when it was still a Horsea, while Flygon has Faint attack which allows it to sneak in close.

"Dragonbreath!"

"Protect!"

Another explosion occurred, Flygon doubled back and I ordered, "Now, Faint attack!" Flygon nodded and seemingly disappeared into the smoke, appearing right behind the startled Wartortle, still using protect—in the wrong direction, where it landed a critical blow, Wartortle was instantly knocked out.

"Wow, I totally did not expect that, fine, I lost." She sighed, "I'm not for overly powerful moves, I want to win, but I also don't want to harm Pokémon."

"Oh, I never really thought of it that way, there's always the Pokécenter for hurt Pokémon right?" I said but then noticed her glare. "Wait, I didn't mean it that way, I care about Pokémon too!" I managed to get away before she said anything else. So much for some quiet thinking time, looking at the time, I should probably get back.

…

Calling it a dinner party really insults the word "party", it has only four people, Mum, Lynn, Lynn's mum and me sitting around a table. Not that I'm complaining though, I hate crowded places and the Mum's cooking is great as always. So, good food, and your crush sitting right beside you, what could be better? It suddenly dawned to me that this might probably be the last time I get to taste Mum's cooking in a long time. _Nice going brain, bringing up such things to ruin perfect moments like these._ Lynn probably noticed my change in expression, "Kira are you alright? You look tired," She touched my forehead with the back of her hand, which made me blush, "Are you sick? You look like you're having a fever!" Her exclamations stopped the conversation between Mum and Lynn's mum, making them look over. I quickly made a _nothing is wrong_ face and smiled at them, they shrugged, and returned back to their conversation.

"It's nothing Lynn," I said, pushing her hand away, "Just thinking about some things." I turned back on my food.

"Hey Kira, I was thinking, can come with you?" Lynn suddenly asked.

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow, "Wait, you mean you want to come with me on the Pokémon league thing?"

"Yea, what else? You see, you are now an official Dragonkeeper right? I can request to be transferred under you as an apprentice, this way, I can come with you!" She said excitedly.

"Erm, technically you can do that, but why?" I asked, is she…?

"Oh, I was getting kind of sick of the gym, plus it's going to be so boring without you around to talk to, and I want to travel Johto, so come on Kira, please?" She said pleading.

"Right…" Why do I even bother, "Sure, no problem, but you might probably want to ask your mum first."

"She agreed on that a few hours ago, so we're all set. All I have to do now is to call Clair and… Oh I almost forgot! This was what I wanted to give to you!" She suddenly started rummaging through her bag and took out a small box, she then passed it to me, "Happy early birthday and congratulations on passing the Dragonkeeper test!"

"Oh thanks, what is it?" The box has a giant POKEGEAR written on it, Pokégear?

"Open it and see for yourself," She grinned and gestured to the box. I opened the box and saw a watch-like thing, it was black in color with silver stripes, I smiled and looked up at Lynn, who said, "I figured you like that color, you wear black all the time, so I thought a matching color couldn't go wrong. I spent the whole morning choosing it, you know."

"Wow, thanks," I said and put it on, "What does it do?"

"It's like a watch with a phone function and possibly other functions when you add more chips in the Pokégear. You can test it out by calling Clair; I think I registered her number when I bought it." Lynn replied.

"Uh-huh, okay let's see…" I tapped the PHONE tab on the Pokégear and it showed a few numbers, besides the "Factory call-back" and "24-hr Repair" There are also contacts, I scrolled down and saw **Lynn**, **Clair** and **Lynn's mum **in the list, I looked up with a questioning look.

"Your mum doesn't have one, so I figured the closest would be my mum, since we are next door neighbors and so on. Anyway just call Clair already!" She urged me. I tapped on Clair's name, and it immediately started the call, "So what do I say?" I asked Lynn.

"Just tell her you want me as your apprentice." She said sheepishly.

"Wait wha— Oh hello Clair." I silently made a face at Lynn. She stuck out her tongue at me.

"Hello, who is this?" Clair's voice came over the Pokégear.

"Kira here, I'm just calling to ask you about something."

"Oh hello Kira, I didn't know you have a Pokégear as well, I've got a few minutes, so ask away."

"Well, I was just wondering, can Lynn come with me on my journey? As my apprentice or something." I quickly added in the last part.

"Did she agree? It's completely fine if you are still in the gym, but your case is special as you are going on a journey, and she's a girl, I fear that such a journey might be too taxing on her."

Lynn suddenly came over and shouted cheerfully into the Pokégear "It's okay Clair! I agreed to Kira's invitation!" _What! Now she made as if I'm the one who asked her!_

"Then it should be fine on my part, Kira, don't think of doing anything funny when you two are alone!" _The—the hell? What kind of a guy does she think I am?_

"Erm, Clair, you're thinking too much, anyway I'll rather not take up too much of your time, bye!" I quickly hung up. I looked at Lynn, praying that she won't start asking about what the "anything funny" Clair said, but all she did was jumping around in joy and punching the air, "Whoot! I can travel with Kira now!"

I breathed out a sigh of relief, while both my mum and Lynn's mum came over, my mum said, "Kira, Lynn, it's getting late, if you two are travelling together starting from tomorrow, you had better sleep early today. We'll take care of the packing, you two get some rest. Especially you, Kira, you look really tired." Somehow Mum is right, there were too many Pokémon battles today, they really drain the energy out of you.

"Right, ok Lynn, see you tomorrow," I yawned and got up, "get some rest too."

"Okay, see you! Don't oversleep!" She called out as she exited the door.

I smiled, as energetic as always, that girl, but that's what I like about her.

"Kira? Why are you smiling like that?" My mum suddenly asked me, she is smiling herself.

"Oh what? Erm, it's nothing, goodnight mum!" I went back to my room and closed the door; I smiled again, tomorrow, tomorrow is when I write my own destiny. I glanced up at the egg Arrow gave me, "I'll find you too Arrow, then I'll get some answers…." I muttered as I drifted off to sleep.

…

**A/N The thing with Paulo was inspired from some random npc trainer I battled while playing Emerald some years ago, he kept wanting to use Thunderbolt on my Flygon, I mean like seriously? Anyway, next chapter is where the journey officially starts! Although it might result in me being like some imbalanced overpowering trainer with my Pokémon team now, I'll try my best to make the battles interesting and not these 1HKO battles we're used to in Pokémon. Oh, ever had your team's carry Pokémon faint accidentally and the rest of your team is just too weak to battle properly? I think those are the times when we wish we trained them evenly, imagine if Charmander did not defeat that Dragonair. Then it will be a mess. A level one? Or is it five? Charmander against a level 37 Dragonair. Okay until next time. A big thank you to those that reviewed the last chapter!**


	3. A new team member

The Latios chaser

Chapter 3

Part 1: The legend begins.

"KIRAAAA! WAKE UP!" I barely heard Lynn's voice. "Ah dammit, I'm not waiting anymore! Horsea! Watergun!"

I was soaked instantly, along with my bed, I jumped out of bed, "The fu—are you doing?" I barely stopped myself from swearing.

"I started waiting at 9, nine! Why do I have to wait 2 hours for you to catch up on your beauty sleep?" She crossed her arms and puffed out her face.

"What?" I jerked my head towards my alarm clock, which showed a blank screen, _stupid alarm clock_. "Ah, right, sorry, alarm clock went out of power," I said and then saw the face she was making, "Really! Why would I want to be late for this?"

"You…you…ah whatever, now that you're awake, hurry it up already!" She pointed at what I was wearing. I looked down, and saw my pajamas, wet, I might add. I sighed and grabbed my usual outfit, a pair of black jeans and a white shirt, "Lynn, unless you want to see me naked, go and talk to Mum or something."

"She left for work when I came in."

"Oh, then could you please just kindly wait outside."

She stomped out of the room, I sighed again and changed into dry clothes, I paused a while, considering that the weather is getting cold due to the approaching autumn, I took out my black windbreaker from the wardrobe and hung it over my shoulder. Now where is that bag Mum helped me to pack yesterday? I looked around. Oh right, it's in under my computer table. I heaved the bag up, checked that the contents are all there, and was just about to leave my room before I remembered about the egg Arrow gave me. I took the egg down from my bookshelf, "Can't forget you now, can we?" I turned around to look at my room and all my stuff for one last time, did a silent farewell, and went out to my living room.

"Took you long enough," Lynn said, her arms still crossed.

"You are still angry?" I asked in disbelief.

"Nope, just making sure that you don't forget this so there won't be a next time." She stuck out her tongue at me.

"Oh for Arceus' sake, sorry, alright? I promise there won't be a next time, okay?"

"One of the biggest lies in the entire human history, 'there won't be a next time', haha," She laughed while I slapped my forehead.

…

"Hey Lynn, mind if I make a detour to the Pokémart first? I want to say goodbye to my mum." I was worried that Mum would start calling me as soon as she realized that I started my journey without telling her. Mum work in the local Pokémart, as a "logistics supervisor", whatever that meant.

"Well I've waited for this long so a few more minutes won't hurt." She put her hands on her hips and stopped.

"Right, thanks." I said as I walked to the Pokémart, I need to get some trainer supplies, anyway.

"Kira! I was getting worried that you left without telling me!" That was the first thing I heard when I entered the Pokémart. I was then hugged tightly from behind.

"Mum you're making a scene, and I can't breathe!" I struggled to get out of Mum's embrace but she hugged me harder, leaving me flailing my arms out like some zombie.

"Aww sweetie just let me hug you for one last time before you leave!" _Oh man._

"Morning Grace, oh wow, quality mum-son time here?" The store manager came up and Mum immediately let go of me. _Thank you for saving me dear store manager._

"Ah, William, yes he's going on a Pokémon journey today, I'm just missing him beforehand." She said to the manager, who laughed. This is where I butted in, "Hey, I was thinking of getting some supplies for the journey, got any good offers now? I've got about $60000 from various sources. Think it's enough? I'll need some Pokéballs, Potions-Hyper Potions if possible, full heals, oh and some food, both Pokémon and human. Ah and not forgetting some repels."

"Haha, quite a list there, let me jot down them and do a check for you, for you the son of our logistics head I'll have everything at employee's price!" He ran off with his note book.

"Wow, what a nice guy," I said to Mum, who smiled and nodded, "He sure is."

I heard the Pokémart door opening and in came Lynn, "What's taking you so long Kira? Oh hi Grace."

"Hi Lynn! Sorry for holding you up, I wanted to see my sweetie for as long as possible before he left!" Came Mum's _really _embarrassing reply. I slapped my forehead, _public image, Mum, ever heard of them?_

Lynn looked at me with a light smirk, "Oh _sweetie_—"

"No, Lynn, stop, it's completely different when you say it." _Is the store manager done yet?_

As if on cue, William appeared holding a large shopping bag full of stuff, "Ah yes, here you are, some Pokéballs, Ultra balls and great balls included, 30 each, 10 bottles of spray type Hyper potion, Super potion and Full heals each, 20 Super repels because we've ran out of Max repels, and some mixed flavor Pokéblocks for your Pokémon. As for human food, we've got instant noodles, some chips and Pocky, which one would you like?"

I stared with my mouth slightly open, while Lynn said, "Pocky please!" Which snapped me out of my trance, "Noodles! Definitely noodles!"

Lynn frowned, "Why? I like Pocky! Fine, then I'll buy the Pocky! Manager I'll take a dozen boxes of them!"

"Noodles give more energy, I can't have you collapse in the middle of nowhere because of all you've had for lunch is Pocky! Plus, ahem, an apprentice should listen to the master." I said, smirking a little.

"That doesn't work on me, but if you're so insistent," She closed eyes, suddenly opening them and looked at me with Bambi eyes and said in a voice so sweet that gives those who hear it diabetes, "_Master, could I have Pocky?"_

"Eh-h? Y-yea, s-sure."

Lynn laughed while William raised an eyebrow, Mum just smiled like she always does. _Oh why do I always fall for that?_ I cleared my throat, "Anyway, how much would that be?"

"Hmm, you can take everything, including the Pocky, for $53000, do we have a deal? The Pokémon related items are half-priced."

"Oh wow thanks," I did a quick calculation in my head, turns out he really _did _have everything at half price, "Of course, this is an offer that I can't refuse, ha."

I thanked William, and after stuffing everything he gave me in my bag, bade farewell to Mum and William and walked to the exit of the Pokémart, glad that I'm finally going to start on this journey. Just then, "Pi—chow!" and a familiar weight landed on my head. _Oh not again._

"Hey Sparky!" Lynn exclaimed, taking the Pichu away from my head and hugging it.

"Kira, Sparky seems to like you," Mum said and taking the Pichu back from Lynn, Sparky looked annoyed being dragged away from Lynn.

"Oh really? I was getting the impression that I was its practice target for Thundershock."

"That's just its way to show affection. Anyway could you take Sparky on your journey, Kira? It's unfair for it to stay with me here, with it having so much potential. Besides, Sparky coming out of its Pokéball without getting ordered just to get on your head is already a confirmation of its affection for you." Mum said in a gentle voice.

I looked at Sparky, its eyes pleading, I sighed, "Okay fine, but no more Thundershocks, okay Sparky?" It nodded eagerly and jumped on my head. "And I'll have you stay in your Pokéball for the ease of travelling, Sparky." I raised its Pokéball over my head and returning it to its Pokéball.

"Oh I forgot, there's this promotion going on, trainers that spend more than $50000 here get a cherish ball." William suddenly said, taking out a finely crafted red Pokéball.

"Wow, I've never seen a Pokéball like this." On closer inspections, the cherish ball has black lining on its edges.

"It's a specially made Pokéball in commemoration for some event that I have no idea of. Best save it though, its catching power is the same as a normal Pokéball, so don't waste it." Said William.

"Hmm, okay, I'll keep that in mind." I thanked William again, and turned to Mum, "Then… I'll be going now, Mum." Suddenly I don't feel the enthusiasm I felt just a moment ago. It's strange, isn't it, the journey that you've wanted to go since forever suddenly doesn't look so enticing anymore.

"Alright, take care now! And call back sometimes, I may not have a Pokégear but we still have a landline!" She smiled when she saw my face, "Come on Kira, go before I change my mind." She pushed me out of the Pokémart with Lynn.

"I…" I stood at the Pokémart entrance, looking back inside.

"Kira let's go already! We need to reach Newbark by sunset if we want decent accommodation! And I'm NOT camping outdoors!" Lynn grabbed my hand and started dragging me south to route 45.

…

"Are we there yet?" Lynn asked as she dragged her foot along.

"Like I said the nth time before, we'll get there when we get there! Route 45 is majorly a straight route, and you were the one who said that we should hurry along! You want to sleep in Dark cave?"

I looked at my Pokégear, 5.39PM, we've been trekking for nearly 6 hours now, come on Newbark, you can appear along the horizon any time now.

"We should be getting close now," I said a while later, jumping down a ledge and helping Lynn to get down.

"Wh-what makes you say that?" She said, catching her breath.

"Dragonmaster instincts. My dear apprentice"

"Egoistic creep."

"Haha, really, look at that tall building there." I pointed to a structure in the south.

"Civilization! Finally!" Lynn ran off in the direction of the building. Where did she get so much energy from? I laughed, and decided to ask directions from some guy I saw walking in the grass field, hoping that he wasn't a trainer.

"Hey, do you know where Newbark Town is? Where Prof. Elm lives?" I said, walking up to the guy.

"Oh, it's just left from here, you're a new trainer?" He asked.

"Yea sort of."

"Then you should try different routes sometimes, you'll never know what Pokémon you're gonna get!"

"Oh, okay, thanks," I waved him goodbye and caught up to Lynn, catching Pokémon is among the least of my concerns now but, whatever, any advice is helpful.

"Where did you go? I figured out where's Newbark Town!" She pointed to the right. "Look at all those buildings there!"

"Uh, Lynn? I got directions saying that Newbark is left from here." I pointed at the other direction, but it doesn't look very promising, it's like pointing into a forest and saying that there's a town there. "…on second thoughts, let's just go right and see what happens." Hey at least the unknown city promises something, going left could very well result in us spending the night in a forest.

As we walked towards the city, the roads became more polished and smooth, and the words Pokécenter and Pokémart on giant rotating signs came into view. Lynn smirked a little, "I told you so."

"Fine, fine, let's go meet Prof. Elm." I completely missed the road sign that was on the other side of the road.

"Hey, you two," called out a voice, causing both Lynn and me to stop and look for the source. It was an old man, wearing a green vest over a brown shirt and brown pants. He was bald Mediterranean style, with white hair at the sides of his head.

"Yes?" I smiled and pulled Lynn behind me. You can never be too careful with people these days and I was instructed by Clair to take care of Lynn, also I can't let my future—never mind.

"You're rookie trainers, aren't you? I can tell," he said.

"Well actually—" I was cut off by his continued speech.

"That's okay," continued the man, smiling. "Everyone is a rookie at some point!"

Lynn sniggered while I tried to explain, "We're from Black—"

"If you'd like, I can teach you a few things."

"Yes thank you sir!" Lynn said, putting her hand on my mouth, barely containing her laugh.

"Okay, then! Follow me," said the old man, gesturing us to follow. He ran to the Pokécenter nearby, surprising us with his speed.

"This is a Pokémon Center," he said, pointing at the building behind him. "They heal your Pokémon in no time at all. You'll be relying on them a lot, so you better learn about them."

"I already—" I was cut off when the old man suddenly ran to the neighboring Pokémart.

"This is a Pokémon Mart," he explained when we caught up. "They sell pokéballs for catching wild Pokémon and other useful items."

"Yes I—" He ran off again, standing on the road that leads out of the city. "Oh why do I even bother." I muttered.

"Route 30 is out this way. Trainers will be battling their Pokémon there. If you go a little farther, you'll see Mr. Pokémon's house."

"And who is this Mr—" I stopped as the old man ran off again, this time heading to the beach.

"This is the sea, as you can see," he said, a smile on his face, probably laughing to his own joke. "Some Pokémon are found only in water."

"…" I was left speechless. He ran off again. We sprinted after him, nearly out of breath by the time we reached him. He was standing in front of a house, wearing that same smile.

"Here is my house," he said proudly, beckoning us to go in, Lynn looked at me, I shrugged and followed the man in.

When we settled down around his table, he continued, "When I was a wee lad, I was a hotshot trainer! Here are some words of advice: catch a lot of Pokémon! But you can only take six with you. If you catch more, they'll be sent to your PC. They won't run away from the PC, so there is no need to be alarmed. Remember what I'm about to tell you, treat them with utmost kindness!"

I sighed, "Okay, thank you for your, urm, advice. It helped… a lot." Who said I can't be kind to elderly people?

"Any day!" He said, probably missing my tone, "Oh before I forget," He ran to his drawer and took out two computer chips. Wow, this old man is pretty high-tech for his age. "I've been giving these map cards away to rookie trainers coming from Newbark, so take these two, I'm sure they will help you on your journey."

He handed us a chip each and we stared at it, not sure what to do.

"Erm… how do these things work again?" I asked while Lynn was turning it around as if finding an ON switch

"Oh silly me, these are for your Pokégears, just slot it in your map card slot for your Pokégear and a map function will be added!" He took the card on my hand and slotted it in one of the many slots on the side of the Pokégear on my wrist. I opened up my Pokégear and found there's a new MAP tab added to the main menu, I tapped on it, and a map of Johto showed up on the screen, and it was even showing my current location as a red dot.

"Cherrygrove City." I read from the map, eyeing Lynn, who suddenly lost the ability to lift her head.

"The Pokégear becomes more useful as you add cards," explained the old man, probably sensing the atmosphere. "I wish you luck on your journey!"

"Okay, thanks, really appreciate the card." I smiled to the old man and he smiled back. I walked up to Lynn, "Let's go, we need to get to Newbark if we want somewhere to stay for the night."

"Um, ok." She became a lot more quiet than usual.

"You are going to Newbark? Didn't you two come from Newbark?" The old man looked at me questioningly.

"Well, we're Dragonkeepers from the Blackthorn Gym, and we're going to Newbark to get registered as official league trainers, but we went the wrong way, that's why we ended up in Cherrygrove," I noticed the old man's expression, "But we're still rookies, don't worry!" I smiled sheepishly.

"Rookie trainers from Blackthorn Gym, now that just doesn't make sense, and you two don't look anything like those caped dragon tamers," The old man chuckled, "Don't worry about it, it's not like you scammed me for the map card, and if it helped you, then by all means take it."

"Thank you sir, you're really nice." Who knew there were such nice people around?

"One final piece of advice, Newbark is about two hours' worth of walk away, you won't make it today before sunset," He pointed at the window, where golden rays are coming through, "If you want, you can stay in the Pokémon centers, they offer free accommodation for trainers. So, here's my opinion, stay in Cherrygrove for the night, and set off tomorrow morning."

"Hmm, you have a point there, thank you for your advice!" I grinned and waved goodbye to the old man. I then noticed Lynn's face, "Come on, what's wrong? We got this map card, right? Don't worry about it, we'll set off for Newbark the first thing tomorrow morning!"

"Who said I was worried about that," She said, suddenly laughing and sticking her tongue out at me, "Last one to the Pokécenter is a slowpoke!" She started running to the Pokécenter.

"What…?" Oh well, anything to make that girl smile. I laughed, shook my head and chased after her.

…

I lied on the bed, back against the wall in my assigned room in the Pokémon center, Sparky fast asleep beside me, reading one of the old issues of "The Pokémon Times" magazine that was in the Pokécenter's archives, they had a special report on each of the Kanto-Johto league champions, turns out there were 4 of them, the first champion after the re-opening of the league was named "Blue". His photo in the magazine was the one taken in the Hall Of Fame, he was smiling smugly and looked really cool with that spiky hair, the interesting thing was that he is the current Gym leader of Viridian City and his time as the Champion lasted for less than 30 minutes, his '_longtime rival and lover, Leaf, defeated him'_, I chuckled, looks like he couldn't handle his girlfriend well enough, _but he at least had one._ I ignored my thoughts and read on. The next one was, of course, "Leaf" _what a name, _I wonder how she feels, having named after a part of a plant, her picture was, similarly, taken in the Hall Of Fame, to my surprise, Blue was beside her, although he looked like he's trying to get out of the photo but Leaf dragged him in. '_Leaf gave up being a Pokémon trainer soon after becoming the Champion and pursued a life dedicated to Pokémon research as Prof. Oak's aid.' _Hmm, I guess she didn't want to take her boyfriend's limelight or something. True enough, _'Blue returned to the Elite Four soon after and became the Champion once more,' _I guess that guy really loves glory, '_but his reign lasted even shorter than the time before, when another longtime rival, Red, defeated him in what is considered one of the most epic champion battles in history, in the end, Blue sent out Blastoise while Red countered with Pikachu, as a result of battling with every bit of power, Red coolly won the match.' _Beside the text was a picture of Blue's fallen Blastoise with Red's Pikachu standing on top of it, looking pleased. I flipped on.  
Next was "Red", he was termed the '_most powerful champion'_ since the re-opening of the League, his Hall Of Fame picture was beside the description, he looked really badass with the red and black color theme he wears and his Pikachu, which usually portrays cuteness, adds to his coolness. I wonder how Lance beat him to become the champion after him, '_Red disappeared soon after claiming the champion title, his whereabouts is unknown as of now.' _The hell, I wonder why would anyone abandon such a hard-earned title. _'Red was removed as the active champion 2 weeks after his disappearance, after he left, the strongest of the Elite Four, Lance, took his place as the champion and reformed the Elite Four.' _So Lance got to be the Champion without any battles, I was kind of disappointed. "Lance" was next, of course, '_the strongest of the old Elite Four, and is the current champion, he is termed as the strongest of the elite Dragonkeepers of Blackthorn. Beating him won't be easy.' _I sighed, could I beat Lance if I somehow made it to the Elite Four?

"Hey Kira, what are you reading?" I looked up from the magazine, and saw Lynn, in her pajamas, leaning on my half-opened door, munching on a Pocky.

"Oh, just some article on the Elite Four champions, get this, Lance got to be the champion without having to battle with anyone." I pointed at the text.

"Uh-huh, that's old news isn't it?"

"Oh? I never really knew that."

Lynn took in a deep breath, "Wait, let me savor this moment, I actually knew something that Kira didn't." She grinned.

"Nobody's perfect, my dear apprentice." My turn to smirk.

"Creep."

"Ha, anyway, you wanted something?"

"Oh yes, Kira, can I sleep with you in your room?" Lynn asked innocently.

"W-what?" I dropped my magazine and asked, almost yelling.

"Why are you so surprised? It's just that… this is a sudden change of environment, and I can't sleep alone, believe me, I've tried sleeping for the past hour." She said, finishing up her box of Pocky.

"S-s-sleep w-with me?" My right eye twitched and I can feel my face's temperature rising, I thank the lack of lighting in my room.

"Yea, unless you're too selfish to share your bed." She put her hands on her hips.

"It's not that Lynn, uh, how do I explain this…" I scratched my head, _how do I explain this to some innocent girl who has absolutely no idea of such things?_

"_Oh dear Kira,"_ She said in a familiar tone.

"No Lynn, I'm afraid I'm not gonna fall for this one." I turned my head away from her.

"Come on Kira just let me sleep here for once! We should sleep early for tomorrow too!" She said as she stomped over to my bed and pushed me further into the bed.

"W-wait a minute!"

"Good night." She said as she lied down in the space beside me, gently moving Sparky so that it won't wake up.

"L-Lynn," I tried calling her, but she's either ignoring me or fast asleep, great, now I'm going to be seriously misunderstood if anyone sees this. She's on the outer side of the bed, too, so I can't just go over her and sleep on the floor. I sighed, moving as far away from her as possible, I tried to fall asleep.

…

"Chu?" Hmm what? Oh it's Sparky… Was I crushing it accidentally? I tried moving around, but I found myself immobilized, also, my nose met with some soft material.

_Soft material?_

My eyes opened and they widened instantly, I was greeted with the sight of pink pajamas, to my horror—and to a certain extent ecstasy, Lynn was hugging me in her sleep, my face was buried in her, erm, never mind. I pulled my head back with a jerk, only to bang against the wall. "Oww…"

Sparky popped out in between us.

"Sparky?" Lynn opened her eyes a tiny bit and yawned.

"Pi-chow!" Sparky started jumping on me, making the position I'm in more awkward than it already is.

"Urm Lynn, you might want to stop hugging me now." I was doing all I can to keep myself from flustering.

"Oh, sorry Kira," she said, letting go of me, "Morning!"

"M-morning…" I tried to act normal, so I said what I would probably have said, "Now let me sleep a bit more." I returned Sparky to its Pokéball and closed my eyes again.

"We're already a day late Kira, we need to get a move on!" I was pulled out of the bed by Lynn.

"Let me sleep…" I muttered as I got up.

"See you downstairs in 10 minutes." She left for her room.

I sat on a chair in the room and blinked, waited until she was fully out of the room before letting out a long breath, I waited for a while more, and changed into what I wore the day before, they stink, but I guess I'll have to stick with them for the time being. I slung my bag and windbreaker over my shoulder, clipped on my Pokéball belt and walked out of the room. I could already see Lynn waiting for me down in the lobby, she was sitting at an empty table, munching on a sandwich. I chose to ignore her for the time being, and turned to the nurse.

"Good morning! You're up early!" The nurse greeted me cheerfully.

"Yea, thanks to her," I gestured to Lynn, "Could you do a quick heal for my Pokémon? Thanks."

"Of course, I'll be taking them for a while."

While she went to work at the back, I sat down beside Lynn and pointed to her sandwich, "Where did you get that?"

"The cafeteria, where else?" She pointed to the back of the Pokécenter, "You should probably hurry there if you want anything to eat for breakfast. By the way, you stink, you know that?"

"Yea, my nose works fine, see you in a minute." I rushed to the cafeteria.

"Excuse me, your Pokémon are fully healed." I heard the nurse say when I exited the cafeteria, munching on a similar sandwich.

"Oh, that was quick, thanks." I took my team back and clipped them back on my belt.

"Please, come back anytime!" The nurse said cheerfully as Lynn dragged me out of the center. I turned back when I heard that, "Hey wait, what happened to the 'We hope to see you again?' thing?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Oh! That! We realized the hidden pun behind it and changed it, haha." The nurse laughed as she said that.

"About time, too. I was getting worried that Pokécenters are secretly evil." Lynn said sarcastically.

"Lynn, what?"

"Nothing," She said innocently, "Now let's go already!"

…

After the uneventful 2 hours through forest that is route 29, Lynn and I finally arrived in Newbark Town, a simple and quiet town, really, nothing grand about it, it's where '_Winds of a new beginning'_ blow, according to a signpost, an appropriate description for the town, I thought, since trainers around the region come here to officially start their journey. The only noticeable thing around town was '_Elm Pokémon lab'_ that was at the north of the town, since Prof. Elm, whoever he is, is obviously there, we walked north.

"Hello, welcome to Elm's Pokémon lab!" A scientist with a pair of thick spectacles greeted us when we stepped in the lab. "Could you please register your names and your reason for coming here, thank you!"

"Oh, ok, but why?" I tried to make small talk while taking a pen from him and started scribbling down information.

"Ever since the lab was broken into by a boy called Silver a couple of month ago, we have to beef up security, nobody wants accidents anymore." He said in a serious tone. I have a feeling that I know who this Silver is. "You two are registering for the Pokémon League? But… we're not expecting anymore for this month."

_As if registering anyone that came in prevents thieves, wait did he just say we're not on his list? _"Huh? Didn't Clair inform the lab?" I asked.

This was when an old man came up, "Oh hello, hello, you must be Kira and…"

"Lynn." Lynn added.

"Oh yes Kira and Lynn, I'm Prof. Elm, weren't you two supposed to show up yesterday?"

"Well, we got lost a bit and ended up having to spend the night in Cherrygrove City," I suddenly blushed, remembering this morning, "So, erm, like what Clair told you, we're in need of a Pokédex to register for the League."

"That might be a little problematic though, because the lab's stock of Pokédexes ran out," I raised my left eyebrow upon hearing that, while Lynn stared at him in disbelief, the professor continued, "however, there are the prototype Pokédex chips meant for Pokégears available now, although they are still incomplete."

"So when will they be complete, Professor?" I was getting a bit annoyed at the current situation but was trying my best not to show them.

"Well I was waiting for the OS upgrade delivery from someone…" Prof. Elm trailed off, "Anyway, let's start with something else to kill the time while we wait for the delivery."

"Something else as in?" He couldn't mean…

"Yes, your official Pokémon League starter." He said proudly, gesturing to the long table behind him, there sat three pokéballs. "You can choose anyone of them as your Johto League starter Pokémon."

"But Prof. Elm, we already have Pokémon." I said, pointing to my Pokéball belt. "We'll be robbing other trainers of their chance if we take anymore Pokémon."

"It's standard procedure that you receive a Pokémon when you register for the League, Kira, also, as my aid said earlier, we're not expecting anymore trainers this month, so you're free to pick them."

I looked at Lynn, who shrugged, I said, "Well then I guess there's no harm in taking one, anyway Lynn needs to add a new member to her team if she wants to start battling seriously. So Prof. Elm, what's available?"

"There are basically three types available, the fire type starter, Cyndaquil," He pointed at one of the pokéballs, "The water type starter, Totodile" He pointed to the Pokéball next to the one before, "and the grass type starter, Chikorita." He pointed at the last Pokéball. "All of them have their own unique strength and weaknesses, so choose wisely."

I sat down on the floor to think, hmm, I've seen the final forms of both the fire and water type starter, they all looked really strong, however, what my team really needs right now is a grass type, but the battle style compatible with grass types aren't really what I'm good in, I'm good at fast and swift attacks, while grass type usually requires you to build up status problems, fortify your defense, boost your own stats and stuff before defeating your opponent, at least, that's my take on battling, so which one should I— My train of thought was cut off when a female trainer burst into the lab, she was wearing a white tank top, black open vest and _really_ short shorts. Her hair, however, was extremely messy.

"Prof. Elm! I'm so sorry! There are strong winds so my Hydreigon was slowed for a bit when flying from the airport to here!" She managed to blurt out in between her gasps for air. I turned around, _Hydreigon?_

"It's okay, White, calm down, you're just in time, the two trainers registering for the Johto League have actually just arrived." Prof. Elm let out a light chuckle.

"Oh, really?" The trainer named White let out a sigh of relief, she reached into her bag and took out a CD like thing, handing it to Prof. Elm, she said, "Here, the Pokédex OS upgrade from Prof. Juniper."

"Ah, yes, the upgrade." Prof. Elm walked to the computer at the side of the room and started the installation process for the OS, after a while, he turned around and said, "This… might take a while, White, could you do me a small favor and help the two new trainers choose their starter Pokémon? They seem to be having a hard time choosing." With that, he returned to his work. I cringed when he said '_new trainers'_.

"So… What do you have on your mind for your first Pokémon?" She came over to me and asked, straightening out her hair, she then noticed the pokéballs at my waist, "Oh, first _official _Pokémon partner."

"I don't really know, what did you choose?" I looked at White. She shrugged and said, "I chose Snivy, the grass type starter from Unova," She noticed the skeptical look on my face, "Wait, you don't know Unova? It's a region far away from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh." She then smiled, "It's actually directly across the Pacific Ocean!"

"Whoa, that's really far," I actually had no idea that Unova even existed.

"Yea it is, so back to the topic, which—" She was cut short by Lynn.

"Yes! I've decided, I'll go with the Fire type Cyndaquil!" She picked up the Pokéball for the fire type and sent it out. "Hello, Cyndaquil! Pleased to meet you! I'm Lynn! From today onwards we'll be partners! So let's be friends!"

The small fire mouse looked at her in confusion, stepping back a little out of fear. "Quil…"

"Uh, Lynn, right? Cyndaquil is still a small Pokémon, you're scaring it with your over enthusiasm." White went over to Lynn, squatted down and started scratching the Cyndaquil, "Hey Cyndaquil, don't be scared, Lynn here is just excited to have you as a partner, I'm sure you two would be good friends!" as she rubbed its fur, Cyndaquil became more friendly instantly.

"Wow, how did you do that?" Lynn squatted down beside White and rubbed Cyndaquil in a similar place, the fire mouse squealed with the delight of having the two girls scratch it.

"I used to work in Pokémon centers to take care of baby Pokémon, so I know where to touch a baby Pokémon to make it feel good."

While the two girls talked, I went back to considering which Pokémon to choose, Cyndaquil is out of the question, since Lynn already chose it, so I'll go for the grass type after all, since I'm expecting a run-in with Silver sometime in the future and I want to have a type advantage over his Feraligatr.

"Okay then, I'll take Chikorita." I picked up the grass type's Pokéball and sent it out. It has a huge leaf on its head, I smiled and squatted down, hand outstretched to it, it came over to me, although looking hesitant, it rubbed against my hand.

"Wow, Kira's lucky, look at how Chikorita likes him already!" Lynn looked at me in envy.

"Well, I wouldn't know about that, maybe I look like prince charming to Pokémon."

"Tell me again why am I travelling with you?"

"Because you're also attracted to me, although just sub-consciously." Well, no harm in trying.

"Wha—"

Prof. Elm suddenly came over, preventing Lynn from saying what she wanted to say, "Ahem, now that you've got your Pokémon, would you like to give it a nickname? It might be helpful to distinguish your Pokémon from what the other trainers have." He took out the Pokédex chips he was upgrading a moment ago, "Here, slot these into your Pokégear, it'll help you determine what gender your Pokémon is so as to help you name them."

I thanked the Professor, slotted the chip in and noticed a new PKDEX tab appearing on the homescreen. I tapped onto that, it showed an entire list of numbers, only that the corresponding Pokémon are missing. "Erm, professor? What's going on?" I showed him my Pokédex.

"Hey why are the Pokémon names and information missing?" Lynn also found out the problem.

"Oh my, looks like your Pokédexes might have a glitch after the OS upgrade, but it shouldn't be fatal, look." He took my arm and aimed it at Chikorita, the once empty screen suddenly burst into life and showed Chikorita's Pokédex numbering, type, it's description, status, nature and attack moves, all these functions are in different tabs. "See?" Prof. Elm smiled, "It should still work as per normal, just that you won't have data on anything that you haven't seen or caught."

"That's… Normal for a Pokédex?" I gave him a skeptical look.

"Don't worry, you probably wouldn't need information on Pokémon that you've never seen before."

"I…" I was going to mention Arrow but decided against it. "Never mind, let's see." I looked at Chikorita's status, turns out that Chikorita is a female and has a modest nature, its attack moves are the basic Tackle and Growl. "A nickname, huh," Then that giant leaf caught my attention, remembering what I read last night, I smirked and said, "Kay then, Chikorita, I'll officially call you 'Leaf' from now on!" I barely heard Lynn naming her Cyndaquil 'Ea' in the background, as to why, I have no idea. Being suddenly curious, I stepped outside of the lab, Leaf following me behind, I sent out my other team members. Flygon immediately took to the skies, expecting a battle, only to find there isn't one, it turned to me and looked at me questioningly. Charmeleon spit out another fireball, looking annoyed as usual, Sparky just jumped on my head, messing up my hair with its static ability. Seadra was jumping around though, as if testing the ground beneath it.

I checked them one by one, Flygon is male with a mild nature, Seadra is a female with a jolly nature, Charmeleon is a male with a rash nature, while Sparky has a naïve nature, I looked at my team, with Leaf being the newest member, I felt somewhat overwhelmed by their presence.

Prof. Elm came over, "What about your other Pokémon? Do you want to give them nicknames as well?" he asked.

"Hmm, I guess not, I've been calling them by these names since a long time ago, if I gave them nicknames now it won't feel natural." It's true; it would sound really fake if I started calling the team that followed me for so long by their nicknames. Plus, I'm not someone that can be considered as creative, so I'll spare my Pokémon the lame nicknames.

"Well I respect your decision," Prof. Elm nodded, noticing my Flygon and Charmeleon, he gasped in surprise, "Two shiny Pokémon? You must be really lucky! Getting even one is rare and you have two!"

White came out when she heard Prof. Elm, Lynn following close behind, Ea, her Cyndaquil, was in her arms.

"Whoa, you sure you're a rookie? Your team is way overkill for a rookie!" White asked in surprise, "And two shiny Pokémon? Are you one of those rare Pokémon collectors in Johto that I've heard of?"

"Huh? No, I'm not one of these people, my team here, with the exception of Sparky and Leaf, was either hatched or given to me by the Dragonkeeper clan in Blackthorn city."

"Oh, so you're a DragonKeeper," White said, checking me out like it's the first time that she's seen me, "Don't really look like one though."

"Well, I get that a lot," I sighed.

"Hey Kira, let's get going, it's already past 11AM in the morning, I want to get my first badge today!" Lynn came up to me and started tugging my hand.

White looked like she suddenly remembered something, "Oh yes, I should probably get going too, Team Plasma is cooking something up again and I don't want Black to be handling everything by his lonesome."

"Team Plasma?" What's with all these weird names?

"Oh, just a gang of lunatics wanting 'Pokémon Liberation'," White rolled her eyes, "Their leader, this guy named N, is pretty cute though."

"Er, never mind, I'll rather not go into that," I quickly said.

"Haha, see you then," She sent out a three headed dragon looking Pokémon that I've never seen before, "Bye Professor! Bye Lynn! Take care! Hydreigon, let's go back to Goldenrod airport." The three headed dragon gave a roar and flew off.

"Bye White!" Prof. Elm shouted as White's figure disappeared into the sky. "So you two are going off now? I suggest going to Violet city for the first gym challenge, it won't be too hard, considering your current team."

"Oh? Thanks for the information professor, see you again!" I waved goodbye to the Pokémon professor.

"Bye Prof. Elm!" Lynn said cheerfully as she started dragging me out of Newbark town, my arm in hers.

…

A/N: Sorry about the somewhat disjointed(and action-less) chapter, was writing this in midst of a really hectic week, I feel lucky to find time to write. nth time means an uncountable amount of times, if anyone didn't know. Ea means fire in Celtics… I think. And Arrow is my nickname for the Latios I encountered in chapter 1, in case anyone's wondering. Yes, kill me for bringing in Unova, it's for the sake of the story development at about 10-20 chapters away. I actually considered restarting my Soulsilver just to write this better, but thank god for 'rebattle trainers' action replay so all my lvl 100s aren't wasted. Oh yes, if anyone finds it weird, the reason why everything takes so long (the 6 hours down route 45, 2 hours along route 29 etc) is that I'm trying to make this feel normal instead of 'I finished the entire story in 10 hours!' thing. A big thank you to perfect oblivion for reviewing my previous 2 chapters and everyone who subscribed (hope this chapter doesn't bore you guys). Until next time then!


	4. Long routes and Bellsprout worshipping!

The Latios Chaser

Chapter 4

Part I: The Legend begins

As Lynn dragged me out of the small town, Prof. Elm rushed over to us, "Wait! I forgot to give you my number," He came up, panting, "It's so that you can call me and ask me on anything that you're unsure of, although… Since it's you two, I'm not overly worried, just be careful, you'll never know what will happen."

"Thanks Professor," I said while punching in the number Prof. Elm told me.

"Pi-Chow!" Sparky suddenly came out of its Pokéball and jumped on my head, _again_. It turned stared at the unfamiliar old man.

Prof. Elm looked back at the Pichu with a faraway look, "If you let your Pokémon travel with you, it will become friendlier faster, and in the case of your Pichu, it will hasten its evolution process."

"Oh, really?" I took Sparky down from my head, "So what Pokémon will it evolve to?" Sparky stared back at me, its head tilted a little to the side.

"A Pikachu, of course," Lynn said, rolling her eyes a little. "Prof. Elm is an expert in Pokémon evolution and eggs, it was him that discovered that Pikachu was evolved from a Pichu."

"Oh, right," Man, I can be slow at times, now that Lynn said it, it became kind of obvious that Pichu evolved into Pikachu, wait a minute, since he's a Pokémon egg expert… "Hey professor, can you tell me what will hatch from this egg?" I said, taking the egg Arrow entrusted me out of my bag and handed it to him.

"Interesting, I've never actually seen anything like this egg before, its patterns are quite strange…" He trailed off, studying the egg in detail, "It would be best for you to leave it with me so I can do some research on it and possibly arriving at an answer."

"Sorry professor, no can't do, this egg has… a special sentimental value to it," I said, taking back the egg, now that he mentions it, the pattern on the egg? I've never really noticed such things before, I mean, it's just patterns, right? I turned the egg around, it was light green in color, with a series of inverted yellow triangles lining the circumference of the egg, it actually kind of reminds me of Arrow.

"If you say so…" Prof. Elm looked pretty disappointed.

"Whoo, another egg, hey Prof. Elm, do Mr. Pokémon always give people strange eggs?" I heard that as someone with a Typhlosion approached, he looks strangely familiar.

"Ethan?" Prof. Elm frowned and turned to face him, "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't you call me and said that you have something for me?" He said, "I was just on my way to visit Lyra's grandparents for my Pokémon at daycare when you called me, I wasted an entire morning travelling back and forth so this had better be something good."

"Ah, the S.S ticket!" Prof. Elm exclaimed, "Ethan hold on, I'll run to my lab and get your ticket." With that, he ran off in the direction of his lab, leaving Lynn and I with the guy named Ethan.

"Hey," Lynn suddenly said, looking at Ethan like he's some newly discovered species of Pokémon, "You're Ethan Gold, right? The newly titled Champion?"

"It's hard work being someone so famous all of a sudden." Ethan sighed.

Oh now I remember him, he's the guy that made Clair lose for the first time in a long time. _Wait, Champion? Didn't that mean he beat…LANCE?_

Lynn squealed, "So you really are the Champion! Are you good? Oh what am I saying, of course you're good! Erm, erm, what's your best Pokémon! Is it that Typhlosion? And how did you become so good?"

I sighed, Lynn has always been like this when she's near celebrities.

"Uh…" Ethan looked pretty unprepared for a sudden questioning, even his Typhlosion sweatdropped.

"Hey, you're the supposed to be the Champion, right? Then I challenge you to a one on one battle." It's a good opportunity to gauge my team's battle strength, even if it's someone who beat Lance before. _That and I'm trying to direct Lynn's attention back to me instead of Ethan, it's this ugly thing called jealousy._

"Well, I hate to decline a challenge, but, a Chikorita just won't do the job." Ethan said, looking at Leaf, Leaf glared back with annoyance.

"Kira are you mad? He's the _Champion!_" Lynn hissed at me.

"Who said I'll be using Leaf here?" I grinned and took out Flygon's Pokéball, "Don't worry, I promise I'll last a while." I said as I sent out Flygon, "Take the skies Flygon."

Flygon gained altitude and gave a high pitched roar that made the people nearby look over with interest.

Ethan's eyes widened at first, he then grinned, "Right then, I accept your challenge, Typhlosion you're up, partner!"

The Typhlosion behind him stepped up and roar as well, grabbing the attention of more people around, some of them even pointed at Ethan and me with excited looks.

"Well, thank you for the major type advantage, but I won't go easy! Flygon! Start with an Earthquake!"

"Dodge and use Lava Plume!"

Typhlosion jumped out of the way just as the fissure from Flygon's Earthquake reached it, while in midair, it started collecting lava and directed them at Flygon.

"Flygon! Faint Attack to blink in close and avoid the lava! Then Dragonbreath at point blank range!"

"Typhlosion spin around quick and use swift to block the attack!"

Green fire and stars collided and a mini-explosion occurred, when the smoke cleared, both Pokémon are still unhurt, facing each other in a standstill. Ethan made the first move.

"Typhlosion! Thunderpunch!"

_Huh? _

"Er, dodge that, Flygon." As a result of me giving the command too slowly, Typhlosion dashed close with an amazing speed and Flygon was hit full force by that electrified fist. However due to its immunity to electric type attacks, the only damage dealt was the physical punch, which I guess hurt a bit too. Flygon flapped its wings in surprise and looked back at me with an angry look.

"Sorry, was a bit surprised." I said apologetically to Flygon, "Hey Ethan! Flygon is a ground type!" I shouted to Ethan over the makeshift battlefield.

I barely heard Ethan muttering something like, "Swear it looks like a flying type." He then focused his expression, "Typhlosion, swift, and make it a barrage!"

Typhlosion jumped back a bit, steadied its footing and shot stars out of its mouth.

"Dodge and—" I stopped short halfway through my sentence as the stars seems to home in to where Flygon is, no matter where it dodged. "Tch, it's homing, Flygon endure it and use Dragonbreath!"

Flygon winced in pain as it breathed green fire at Typhlosion while taking continuous damage from the swift attack. As Typhlosion was rooted to the ground while channeling the continuous swift attack, the Dragonbreath hit it head on, hard, dealing damage normally not possible. The continuous barrage of stars stopped almost immediately, signaling that Typhlosion was paralyzed from the Dragonbreath.

_Lucky! _"Flygon, it's paralyzed! Take this chance! Earthquake!"

Flygon flapped its wings, gained altitude and—

"Typhlosion! OVERHEAT!" Ethan shouted with a certain amount of force.

As Flygon dropped down hard to deliver the Earthquake attack, Typhlosion's back exploded with flames, a sign of its Blaze ability activating, it opened its mouth, a giant column of fire coming out of it. Heading. Directly. For. Flygon!

Flygon sped down to the ground with an incredible velocity that was accelerated by gravity, and—

*BOOM*

I raised my hand to shield my eyes from the blinding explosion, the other hand was holding Sparky down as the shockwave from the two attacks almost sent it flying. When the explosion died down, Typhlosion was visible first, it was all fours, panting. _Did Flygon manage to dodge? _My hopes were dashed when Flygon came into view, collapsed on the ground and knocked out. _So… close…_ I sighed in defeat, literally. I returned Flygon to its Pokéball. "Flygon, return, good job, take this time to rest," I paused before muttering, "Sorry…"

The crowd gathered started murmuring, "Close, real close…" "Who's that guy fighting Ethan?" "Cool…" Were some of the things I managed to make out.

"Hey, good battle, it was so close too, erm," Ethan came up to me, hand outstretched.

"I'm Kira," I shook his hand and smiled, "No wonder you're the Champion."

"You're pretty awesome yourself, it was like fighting Lance, with a different dragon of course," He laughed.

"Nah, I'm not even half of what Lance is capable of, I just got lucky with that Dragonbreath, that's all." I shook my head.

"And I was lucky that Typhlosion managed to hit with that Overheat, it usually misses."

"Oh stop being humble, you two," Lynn stepped in between us, "I hate it when guys turn all humble!"

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Ethan, both of us burst out laughing, leaving Lynn with a confused look on her face.

"What a battle… Both of you battle like seasoned veterans!" Prof. Elm suddenly appeared out of the crowd, "Well Ethan, here's your S.S ticket. Sorry for just standing there and watching, the battle was just too exciting to interrupt."

"Erm thanks?" Ethan said questioningly as he took the ticket, "That's why you called me? I thought it would be more important than a boat ride."

"Don't you understand, Ethan? Now you can catch Pokémon in Kanto!" Prof. Elm waved his arms about, "Think of this as an expansion to your journey!"

"Well if you put it that way…"

"You can take the ship from Olivine City, but you already know that, Ethan, having travelled over Johto yourself."

The crowd started dispersing, seeing that the show's over, I guess we should go too.

"Well Professor, it was fun hanging around, but we've got to go now," I said as I bid farewell to Prof. Elm and the Champion, "See you Ethan."

"Huh, oh see ya." Ethan waved back at me.

"Be careful! And don't worry, from what I've seen just now, you definitely have potential!" Prof. Elm waved as well.

"Yes we'll do all that, now bye bye!" Lynn's enthusiasm kicked in again.

…

We barely made it out of Newbark when we were interrupted again.

"Hey, I've seen you guys a couple of times, how many Pokémon have you got?" Said a teen in a brown shirt and pants, a Rattata following behind him, he didn't wait for our answer before continuing, "Do you know how to catch Pokémon?"

Well now that he mentions it…

"Yea we do. We have more than one Pokémon, if you want proof." I said, showing him my belt of five pokéballs, Blackthorn gym wouldn't be called the toughest gym if the gym trainers don't even know how to use pokéballs.

"Well, okay… but if you want to catch Pokémon, you'll have to walk around a lot."

"Uh-huh…" He looked so sad that I wanted to actually stop and waste those 5 minutes just to make him feel better.

Who am I kidding.

"Right, thanks for the tip, now to get to Cherrygrove." I started the 2 hour hike to the next city.

…

"Welcome to the Pokémon center, would you like to heal your Pokémon?" The nurse said as I approached, Flygon's Pokéball in hand.

"Yes, thanks." I gave her Flygon's Pokéball.

Despite Lynn's protests, I insisted on healing Flygon first in the Cherrygrove Pokécenter, I just don't feel safe without it.

"Thank you for waiting, your Pokémon are fully healed," The nurse came back from that miracle machine.

"Right, thanks." I took the Pokéball and headed back out the Pokécenter, where Lynn's waiting.

The moment I stepped out of the center, Flygon came out of its Pokéball and…

Whacked me on the head.

"Oww, hey!" I held a hand on the hurting part of my head, Lynn giggled as she came up.

"Flygon's so cute! It's annoyed that you lost to Ethan!" She laughed.

"How's that… cute?" I said through clenched teeth, head still hurting.

"It's just cute, haha." Lynn stroked Flygon, who actually looked comforted.

"…Fine." We started making our way towards route 30 that leads to Violet City.

Who knew getting through Cherrygrove City itself could take so long?

"Lynn, let's stop… for Lunch." My stomach started growling loudly after a while, I stared longingly at the fancy restaurant we passed as we walked in a city park.

"Kira, it's almost 2 PM, from the guide I've got here, Violet City is about 4 hours away, _and _if we want to keep up with my plan for the first Gym badge by today, we need to—" Her stomach growled as well, "Alright…" Her shoulders falling, "Let's stop…" She sighed.

"Awesome! Let's go then!" I grabbed her hand and started running back to that restaurant, but Lynn stopped me, "Erm, are you sure we have enough money to eat in _that kind_ of restaurant?"

I stopped dead in my tracks, "Er… Right…" I sighed, and took out the instant noodles that I got from William, "Then… Let's eat these."

"I get the curry flavor!" Lynn grabbed the curry flavored cup noodles as soon as I laid them out on the ground, I smiled and took the chicken flavored one.

"Right! Food!" Lynn exclaimed as she opened the packaging, pouring every flavoring in, she paused, "Kira? What about water?"

"You can use Horsea's Watergun," I smirked.

"Whaa?" Lynn looked taken aback, "Isn't that a bit disgusting?"

"Kidding," I quickly said, "Here," I took out this giant flask of water I kept in my bag for cases just like these.

"Do you have everything in that bag of yours?"

"No, but I have almost everything." The smirking continued.

"Okay… Then do you have stoves to cook these things on?"

That got me.

"Well… We do have fire type Pokémon…" I said hesitantly, not sure how that came out of my mouth.

"Ah yes! Ea, help out a bit." Lynn sent out her Cyndaquil.

"…Quil?" The Cyndaquil looked puzzled.

"Use ember on the noodles!"

The puzzled look continued. Right, so Cyndaquil doesn't know ember yet.

"Looks like Ea here doesn't know ember yet, hmm, Charmeleon, you're up." I sent out the Charmeleon, it looked around, disappointed that it wasn't a battle.

"Turn around." I said to Charmeleon.

"Char?"

"Just, turn around." I don't feel like explaining my extremely dumb idea.

Although Charmeleon looked as if it doubted my intentions, it still turned around, I took my cup of noodles and… held the cup over its tail flame. Charmeleon looked back and, to my surprise, it smacked its forehead with its claws.

"Hey sorry, we can't find any heat source nearby." I said sheepishly to Charmeleon.

When our simple meal of instant noodles was cooked, I took out the Pokéblocks and gave them to the seven Pokémon that we have right now. While our Pokémon ate, Lynn and I ate the noodles as well. We earned some weird looks from passers-by, but I didn't really care at that point of time.

I finished my cup of noodles soon after and turned to admire, I mean look, at Lynn.

"So… Ready to go?" I said to Lynn, who was sitting on the grass patch and playing with Cyndaquil's nose.

"Yup, hey guys, return."

"Guys, return too." I said as I raised several pokéballs at once and returned most of my team to their pokéballs. Sparky jumped on my head, as usual. I smiled and headed towards route 30, glad that we're finally going to Violet.

"You have got to be kidding me!" The first thing I saw the moment I took my first step on route 30, was the trainers there, something tells me this route will take more than just 4 hours to get through…

"Well, at least we'll get some training for our newly acquired Pokémon," Lynn grabbed her Cyndaquil's Pokéball and ran at the nearest trainer, who happened to be a youngster with a Rattata, I followed her.

"You look weak! You can't beat me! My Rattata's in the top percentage of Rattata!" I heard him exclaim proudly to Lynn as she challenged him to a battle.

_Top percentage Rattata… right…_

I smiled and walked to the side to make space for the battle, only to be disturbed by another youngster that was in the area.

"Hey, you're a Pokémon trainer right?" He asked when he came up.

"Yea… Why?" I don't like the way this is going.

"Then you have to battle!" He said proudly, "Go Pidgey!"

"Erm… ok, Sparky, let's go." I said to the Pichu on my head, "Thundershock!"

Sparky flashed a mischievous look and unleashed an electric shock to the Pidgey, from the top of my head.

"I m-meant o-on the P-Pidgey dammit!"

Needless to say, the Pidgey was knocked out by that super effective move.

Sparky jumped down to the ground and stuck its tongue at me.

The youngster frowned before sending out a Rattata.

"So… I'm guessing that this Rattata is another one of these 'top percentage' Rattata?" I asked out of interest.

"No, it's even better! My Rattata beat that top percentage Rattata in a battle a while ago! So you better watch out!"

"Uh-huh, Sparky, start with a quick attack."

Sparky dashed forward and knocked into the Rattata even before the youngster could react. The attack itself hurt the Rattata a bit, but it's not enough to knock it out just yet.

"Hey! No fair! Rattata, Tackle!" The youngster complained.

"You can't have everything going the way you want them to be you know," I grinned, "Sparky, side step to the left when the Rattata is near you and use Thundershock to finish this."

Sparky dodged the tackle with a grace I didn't know was possible for it, it then released another one of these electric shocks that I've come to fear, effectively knocking out the Rattata.

"And that's a wrap." I said while Sparky jumped back on my head, "Hey buddy, good job."

"Pi-Chow!" It said happily.

"That's strange, I've won before…" The youngster grumbled before giving me some money for winning, it was so little that I felt guilty for taking them. It's like I'm some school bully extorting kids for their lunch money.

"Well… Keep working on it, your team has potential." I tried to say words of encouragement to make up for making him lose.

"Really?" He asked, his eyes full of hope.

"Uh… Yea, just… train them and catch more varieties." I turned back on Lynn's battle, only to find Lynn's Cyndaquil knocked out by that "top percentage Rattata." Guess he wasn't lying when he said his Rattata is good.

"Ahh this is not happening! I can't lose on my first official battle! Go Horsea! Watergun!"

I crossed my arms and watched the fun unfold as that Rattata jumped around to evade the highly accurate and powerful Waterguns that Horsea shot out, a result of the gym's harsh training regimen. The battle went completely downhill for the youngster from that point onwards, not surprisingly, the Rattata was knocked out soon after.

"Yes! Horsea we did it!" Lynn started jumping up and down, "We've won our first official battle!"

"Erm, Lynn, didn't you win when all those newbies that just entered Dragonkeeper training challenged you?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Yea, but that's when we were gym trainers! This is my official debut battle as a Pokémon League trainer! WOHOO!"

"Uh-huh…" I guess I didn't really know how to respond to that.

"Oh… I'm out of Pokémon that can fight…" The youngster came up and handed Lynn some winning money.

"Catch more Pokémon, that'll help," I said to him.

"I knew it!" He said, looking at my belt of 5 Pokéballs, "If you don't have any Pokémon, battles are harder! I need to catch more Pokémon!" With that, he walked off… before turning back and asking Lynn, "Hey miss, can I get your number? So I can call you for rematches and stuff."

Is he… making moves on my girl? I walked up to the kid before Lynn can respond to that question, "Hey, I'll give you my number, since you already battled her, battle me the next time. I promise I'll be a better challenge." I summoned my best smile and smiled at him.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Lynn looked at me with a shocked face.

"Of course the master offers a better challenge, my dear apprentice." I said with the Sherlock-Holmes tone again.

"Creep."

"I'm not sure what's happening but, sure, I'll gladly battle you next time big brother." The youngster said happily.

"Call me Kira." I said as we exchanged numbers.

"And I'm Joey!" This time, he went off for good.

…

Five. Freaking. Hours.

With a few wrong turns and more Pokémon battles, that's how long we took to finally reach Violet City.

"I'm so tired…" Lynn grumbled as I half-dragged and half-carried her into the Violet City Pokémon center that was near the entrance of the city.

"Welcome to the Pokémon center, you are out late. Would— Oh my." The nurse stopped dead when she saw us.

"We would like a room. Thanks." I said to the nurse, "Oh, with two beds, of course." I added when I saw her expression.

"Okay, single room with two beds, would you like your Pokémon to be rested as well?" She asked cheerfully.

"Yes, thanks." I said as I passed my 5 Pokéballs to her, "Lynn, your Pokéballs. Lynn!"

"Hmm? Oh, right, here." She gave the two pokéballs to me and fell right back to sleep, leaning on my back this time.

"Uh... uh..." I was having a hard time coming up with words to say to the nurse. I think that the part of my brain that contained my vocabulary was malfunctioning from a high temperature. But Lynn felt so good on my back...

"The pokéballs?" The nurse said with a smile.

"Uh, right, sorry, really tired, thanks." I regained my composure and passed the nurse the seven pokéballs, taking the room key from her at the same time.

"No worries, have a good rest!" The nurse called out cheerfully after us.

It almost killed me trying to get Lynn up to the room.

"Yes…sleep…finally…" Lynn said groggily as she fell off my back and onto the nearest bed.

"So what about the gym?" I asked teasingly, although I'm extremely tired as well.

"Tomorrow…" She muttered, falling asleep.

"…Night." I said quietly, although I'm sure Lynn can't hear me anymore.

…

I got up early next morning, let's just say I can't tolerate my stench anymore and decided to take a bath and change into a new set of clothes. Since it's still early, it'll be a good time to see the city without all the people. I left Lynn in the room, still sleeping, and went down to the nurse.

"Good morning," She yawned, probably coming off night shift, "You're up early, what can I do for you?"

"I would like my Pokémon back, thanks," I smiled at her.

"Right… What was your name again?" She asked while searching through boxes of pokéballs.

"Kira." I highly doubt that anyone else has any name that's even vaguely similar to mine.

"Oh, so you're Kira!" She suddenly exclaimed.

"Huh." I raised an eyebrow.

"I was wondering all night who this Kira person was, you see, I thought that you're a girl!" She laughed.

"Uh-huh…" The eyebrow stayed raised.

"Sorry! Here are your pokéballs." She handed me a box of seven pokéballs, including Lynn's.

"Sorry, but, erm, could you keep these two pokéballs here for now? They belong to a girl named Lynn." I handed her Lynn's pokéballs.

"Okay no problem, come back anytime!" She smiled tiredly.

"Thanks." I clipped my pokéballs to my belt and exited the Pokécenter.

I breathed in the fresh morning air and surveyed Violet City, I didn't get a good look at the city last night so I'm making up for it today. Violet City is a really traditional City, almost all the buildings there looks like they have some form of story to tell, I looked around and the gym easily stood out, being all modern looking. I shrugged as I went over to the gym, no harm just checking out the gym first. The gym wasn't open yet, as it was still early, I bent down and started reading the signboard.

_Violet City Pokémon Gym_

_Leader: Falkner_

_The Elegant Master of Flying Pokémon_

So… Let me guess… This Falkner guy probably uses…. Flying types! Nah, just kidding, of course he uses flying types, it's stated there on the signboard!

*Ring*

Huh, what was that?

*Ring Ring*

Oh, it's the Pokégear, I tapped the green phone icon, answering the call.

"Hello, Kira here." Who could be calling me this early in the morning? Did Lynn wake up or something?

"Hey, Kira! Were you sleeping in?" asked a voice. It was Joey.

"Erm… no? I'm checking out the Violet City gym right now."

"Hey, do you remember my super-cool Rattata? I'm sure my Rattata is different from regular Rattata. It's like my Rattata is in the top percentage of Rattata. Do you know what I'm saying?"

"Erm, I thought you've already told me that before?"

"Okay, bye!"

What… Was that all about? I stared blankly at the Pokégear. Ah whatever, I unclipped Sparky's Pokéball and sent it out, to my surprise, it was still sleeping. I know this isn't like me but, Sparky looks really cute when it's sleeping, so I started scratching it.

"Pi?" Sparky opened an eye.

"Morning Sparky."

It jumped up, fully alert and looked around.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down pal, we're not battling just yet."

"Pi-chow!" It relaxed and jumped on my head, making me laugh a little.

"Heh, Sparky, this gym here uses flying types, think you're ready for your big show?" I asked Sparky, scratching its right ear.

Sparky answered by letting out a small Thundershock, although I wasn't really affected by it this time.

"Looks like you're more than ready huh?" I smiled.

"Chow!" It called out cheerfully.

"Now let's do a bit of an exploring before coming back for the gym challenge." I said to no one in particular. I turned to the next most attention grabbing structure in the city, which happened to be this ancient looking tower, it was tall and… did I mention it was _shaking_ as well? Well, if it lasted this long I guess it'll hold out for the time being. I made my way to the tower.

"A Bellsprout over 100 feet tall… people say it became the middle pillar here." I heard an old lady read off a signboard that introduced the tower. _Whoa, really? _Or did the tourism board just made that up to attract tourists? Probably the latter, I chuckled a bit and went in. The interior of the tower wasn't all that impressive, it's just this empty room with a giant swaying pillar in the middle, it was making a really loud creaking noise as well. _People are going to regret it someday…_ I thought darkly, but quickly shook off that thought. I went up to the first monk, he turned and saw me.

"Sprout Tower was built long ago as a place for Pokémon training, people are battling upstairs, that's the reason why the tower is shaking, if you manage to reach the top of the tower, you'll be given a wonderful move." He said as he came up to me.

"And… what is that move exactly?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Flash." The monk said.

"F-flash?" If I teach that move to Lynn… I shook my head, mind need to get out of the gutter, like, now, "Right, erm, sorry, thanks." I could feel my face heating up as I climbed the ladder to the next floor, I was so embarrassed by my brain that I didn't notice the monk that was in front of me. And, of course, I bumped right into him.

"Sorry…" I muttered and walked on, however, he took a step in front of me, blocking my way, I stopped and looked up at him.

"However hard we battle, the tower will stand strong." He said as he sent out a Bellsprout.

He…wants to battle? "You sure about that?" I sent out Charmeleon.

"Yes, of course. Vine whip."

"Huh," My mind didn't comprehend quickly enough to his sudden change of target audience for his speech, "Tch, Charmeleon dodge and use Flamethr— Ember." I don't want to risk burning down the entire tower.

Charmeleon failed to dodge when the Bellsprout shot out vines at it, but being a fire type, it wasn't really hurt by that attack, the very same Bellsprout was then consumed by a flurry of small fire, effectively knocking it out. The same thing happened to the other two Bellsprouts that he had.

"I fought hard, but I'm too weak." The monk sighed and passed me some money. "The flexible pillar actually protects the tower, even from Earthquakes."

"Oh? That's news." I smiled as I went past him, "I'm so relieved to hear that the tower won't suddenly collapse with us in it."

The next ladder went downwards, however, which made me hesitate a while before going down.

More monks downstairs? Yes, more monks. In fact, I have to defeat two more monks before reaching the third floor, where it seems to be a monk gathering… or something. I fully expected them to have a full team of Bellsprouts, as they seem to worship Bellsprouts here or something. I was totally surprised when one of the monks sent out a Hoothoot after Charmeleon knocked out his Bellsprout.

"Alright Sparky, stop sleeping, you're up." I said to the Pichu sleeping on top of my head.

"Chu…" Sparky said sleepily and jumped down.

"Thundershock!"

"Hypnosis!"

As Sparky started charging electricity at its red electric sacks on its cheek, the owl's eyes glowed and Sparky fell right back to sleep.

"The…" I sighed as I took out a Full Heal from my bag and sprayed it on Sparky, while the Hoothoot pecked at it.

"Pi?" Sparky jumped up, as alert as ever.

"Good to have you back, now wrap this up with a Thundershock."

Sparky didn't charge this time, but shot out a bolt of electricity at the Hoothoot straight away. The Hoothoot was knocked out straight away. _Was that a…?_

"Yes, your trust is real!" The monk said emotionally.

"Uh, thanks…?" I said with a skeptical tone and went past him.

I guess the next one I'll have to battle is the elder, why? Because he's important looking, that and he is standing at the edge of the room, looking at me with a smile.

He can't be a pedo—never mind.

"So good of you to come here," he said, still smiling, "Sprout Tower is a place of training. People and Pokémon test their bonds to build a bright future together. I am the final test."

"So… I have to battle you too huh." I pulled out Charmeleon's Pokéball.

"You must," replied the Elder, taking out a Pokéball, "Allow me to check the ties between you and your Pokémon!"

He sent out a Bellsprout first, typical.

"Charmeleon, Ember."

The Bellsprout was knocked out before the Elder could give any orders to it, the Elder smiled even more, and sent out a Hoothoot.

"Hmm okay… Sparky you're up. Thunderbolt!" Sparky turned back at me with a questioning look.

"Tackle, Hoothoot!" The Elder ordered his attack.

"Ah, whatever, Sparky, Thundershock!" I completely thought the last attack was a Thunderbolt attack, but it just turned out to be a overcharged Thundershock.

As the Hoothoot made contact with Sparky, Sparky let out an electric shock, paralyzing and weakening the owl.

"Okay, finish this, Quick attack!"

Sparky dashed off and hit the paralyzed owl head on, knocking it out.

"Hmm… Good, good, Bellsprout." The Elder's smile grew even wider as he sent out his last Pokémon.

"Right… Charmeleon, you're up again." Charmeleon breathed out his ember attack even before I ordered him to, like it was reading my mind. And, once again, the Bellsprout was knocked out.

"The way you battle is quite elegant," said the Elder, calling back the Bellsprout.

"Huh really? I thought I'm still in the 'needing improvement' stage." I smiled back at him, so he was just smiling about my battle style, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nonsense. You should be able to stand up to Falkner. And you should be able to make good use of this."

The Elder took out a CD case from his sleeve, "It's a Technical Machine called Flash," explained the Elder. "When a Pokémon learns Flash, you can illuminate caves no matter how dark they may be. You can try it on Bellsprout, for example."

"Uh-huh," Now that's what Flash does! I completely thought— I stopped myself, "Thanks for the TM, Elder, it'll come in useful someday."

I turned around and my Pokégear started ringing again, please don't let it be Joey, I prayed silently and answered it.

"Hey, Kira, where are you?" In came Lynn's voice, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm exploring the city a bit, coming back now." I waved goodbye to the Elder and the monks silently and made my way back down the tower.

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you for breakfast!" Lynn's voice sound cheerful as always.

"Right, see you in a while." I smiled as I exited the tower, heading in the direction of the Pokécenter, the gym can wait for now.

…

A/N: Now that was a fun battle to write at the start. "Blink" means teleport in a short distance, sort of like… jumping (from the movie _Jumper_). If anyone's having trouble understanding what Arrow's egg looks like, think Digi-eggs…or if you're not familiar with digimon then… I guess the closest thing would be Easter eggs? Although I would definitely NOT eat that egg. Oh by the way, anyone has any idea what Gold's "official" team is supposed to be? Since we're supposed to be him throughout the game, the easiest thing to do would be to import my SS team on him, but I can't do that since I'm already doing that for Kira and the internet didn't provide me with a satisfactory answer. Ah yes, the famous Pokémon world paradox, do you eat animals or Pokémon? I'll go with the explanation that Pokémon are just mutated species of animals so the normal animals i.e. the chicken (chicken flavored noodle) I mentioned, still existed. That's all for now, apologies for the late update (updates will be a bit slow from now on due to the sudden increase in workload from school, sorry about that), thanks to all that read and reviewed! You are all much appreciated!


	5. Gym leaders' Prowess!

The Latios Chaser

Chapter 5

Part I: The Legend begins

At the Pokécenter cafeteria, Lynn and I are sitting down at a free table, eating the breakfast provided freely for trainers.

"So… What were you doing again?" Lynn asked while eating.

"Exploring the city," I gestured outside, "Violet city is real nice, with all the traditional buildings and stuff. Oh and the gym leader here apparently uses flying type Pokémon."

"Flying types?" Lynn looked up from her soup.

"Er, yea, like bird Pokémon, for example." She couldn't possibly not know what flying types are… right?

"Oh yea of course I know that, I was just thinking how can I defeat flying type Pokémon."

"Well, they are weak against electric moves, or you can crash rocks on them, or you can use ice type moves to freeze them…." I trailed off, remembering my days as an apprentice, memorizing every single type's strength, weakness, characteristics… That was really tiring, not to mention annoying, but on hindsight, I guess it was worth the effort.

"Erm, Kira? You there?" Lynn waved her hand in front of my face.

"Huh, uh, what?" I blinked.

"I _said, _how are we supposed to get Pokémon of these types, or to get our Pokémon to learn moves of these types?"

"Er, let's see… you have a Horsea and a Cyndaquil…" I listed out Lynn's Pokémon, "Horsea should be able to learn the move Ice Beam, if you have the TM… And… from my battle with Ethan, when Cyndaquil evolve into Typhlosion, it's able to learn Thunderpunch, which is an electric type move."

"And can we gain access to the Ice Beam TM or get Ea to evolve a.s.a.p.?"

"Well, no."

"Then what's the point…" Her shoulders fell and she went back sipping her soup.

"I was merely listing out the possibilities…" I paused for a while, thinking of what to say, "Actually, the most common way is to just overwhelm your opponent with fast attacks. Well, you should go to Sprout tower to give your Cyndaquil some battle experience if you want, to balance out your team, that is."

"Sprout tower?" Lynn looked up, "Isn't it that the ancient tower that's built out of a giant Bellsprout?"

"Wait, how did you know that?" I asked in a skeptical tone.

"Regional history class, Kira, do you only pay attention in battle tactics?"

"Well…it is the only class I manage to stay awake in." I yawned to prove my point, I glanced at the Pokégear at my wrist, "Well the gym should be open by now—"

Lynn stood up suddenly, making trainers all around look over, "Then let's go!" She grabbed my hand and made a mad dash for the exit.

"But I haven't finished eating— ah dammit."

…

"What are you waiting for?" Lynn gave me a small push, "Let's go already!"

"Sparky and Leaf needs more training…" I said with a sigh, receiving a light slap on the head from Sparky.

"They'll be fine…" Lynn reached out and scratched Sparky, "Just use Flygon in case of emergencies!"

"I seriously hope you're correct…" Nervous? You bet I am, but with Lynn looking this eager to challenge the gym, I can't say no can I?

We stepped through the glass door and into the gym, the first thing I noticed was the lack of people here, except for the dude at the reception, the second thing I noticed was the _extremely _high celling this gym has.

"Uh… Kira, where are the gym trainers?"

"I… don't really have an idea…" I scratched my head and looked up. Sparky jumped down and let out a sigh, walking ahead of us, it jumped on a wooden platform close by and it immediately began to creak, as if it was activated.

Wait, it _is _activating!

"Come on Lynn, let's go!" I pulled Lynn onto the wooden platform just as it started to rise. Lynn gave a gasp grabbed onto me.

"It's going up so fast!" She screamed.

"Y-yea…" I was trying to keep a poker face on, did I tell you that I absolutely _fear _heights?

The wooden platform secured itself on a wooden pathway, does everything in Violet City has to be made out of wood? They probably didn't get the memo about the lack of trees in the world, but I digress…

Back to the gym challenge. I looked on ahead, there were two trainers, and a blue-haired man presumed to be Falkner way at the back.

"Typical gym structure…" I said to nobody in particular while the first bird keeper came over when he saw us.

"I can't believe how ridiculously high this is," he said uneasily, looking down at the ground below.

"No kidding…" I followed his gaze accidentally and gulped.

He then looked back with determination, "but from up here, you can tell what it feels like to be a bird Pokémon! Let me see if you two are good enough to face Falkner!"

He sent out a Fearow and a Pidgeotto, "My debut double battle, come on!" The excited bird keeper said.

"Double…battle?" I said questioningly, I've heard of them, but aren't gyms supposed to be challenged alone?

"Yea, you two are challenging the gym together right?" He crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently, "Send out your Pokémon!"

I looked at Lynn, she returned my gaze, "Let's go, Kira, _our _debut double battle as well! Ea you're up!"

I smiled, "Okay then, Sparky!"

A Pichu and a Cyndaquil jumped in front of us, facing...

I just realized how outmatched this battle is.

"You have the first move." The bird keeper smirked.

I smacked my forehead, "Never mind… We'll pull through somehow… Brawn against brawn won't work, Lynn, try some tactics."

"Okay, Ea, Smokescreen!" Lynn gave the first order.

Cyndaquil let out a thick blanket of smoke from its back, covering the field at the bird keeper's side.

"Pidgeotto, use Gust to clear the smoke, Fearow, go in and use Drill Peck on the Cyndaquil!"

The smoke cleared with a gust of wind and the Fearow squared in on Ea, oh great, "Sparky, use Thunderwave on the Fearow, cover Ea!"

Sparky's cheeks sparked and it let out a bolt of blue lightning at the charging Fearow, paralyzing it. It crashed to the ground right in front of Ea. "Now Thundershock!"

"Fearow! Get up! Pidgeotto, quick attack on the Pichu!" My eyes widened as the Pidgeotto dashed in on Sparky while it was still charging its attack. "Sparky, stop your attack, dodge now!"

Sparky immediately stopped charging its attack, however the Pidgeotto is on a direct collision course with Sparky, going at a speed so fast that I know it's too late to dodge.

"Ea, tackle on the Pidgeotto!" Ea charged in and knocked the Pidgeotto off-course just as the Pidgeotto was inches away from Sparky.

"Good save." I grinned at Lynn. She grinned back, "Thanks! Now let's win this! Ea, smokescreen again!"

I turned back to the battlefield, "Sparky, step to your left a bit and then use Thundershock on Fearow again!"

"Fearow, dodge and Pidgeotto use Gust again!"

Fearow flapped its wings with effort and barely made it out of the way of Sparky's electric shock.

I held my breath.

The bolt of electricity continued in a straight line and hit Pidgeotto square on its wings while they are wide open in executing Gust, it cried out and crashed down, knocked out.

"Nice!" Lynn turned and smiled at me, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Read something about positioning in double battles the other day, wanted to try it," I said, looking at the battlefield, "Let's wrap this up Lynn."

The bird keeper's mouth was wide open, stunned by the tactics deployed—I guess?

"Okay, Ea, Tackle on Fearow!" Lynn ordered her Cyndaquil to attack the paralyzed bird.

But Ea had other ideas, it reared up, back flaming, and unleashed a flurry of small fire at Fearow, burning it.

"Ember," I said with a bit of a surprise, "Ea must have learnt it in the course of the battle."

"Tch, Fearow, mirror move!" The bird keeper shook his head and said with a slightly agitated tone.

"Ea, use your own ember to counter it!"

Fire from the Fearow met with fire from Ea and they and burned each other out.

"Sparky, now, Thundershock!" Two against one is unfair, but this is a double battle.

Sparky gave a small nod before jumping up and unleashing a powerful electric shock at the Fearow. Knocking out the poor bird Pokémon.

"Yes we did it!" Lynn gave me a high-five.

"Yea! Awesome debut battle! We actually make a pretty good team!" I grinned at Lynn, she grinned back.

"Even though you two are rookie trainers," The bird keeper looked at our Pokémon and sighed, "I was no match in a double battle against you two."

"Well, we're learning too. So how come the first gym in the league is this tough huh?" I asked the question I was asking myself all along.

"Well, since we were beaten three times in a row a while ago, Falkner raged and decided to impose a really harsh training regimen, and this is the end result." The Bird keeper said with a sigh, passing us the winning money, "But it's still not good enough isn't it?"

"Well, we wouldn't have stood a chance if this was a single battle, we only won because of the coordination…" I said nervously, feeling uneasy about what's up ahead, I mean the first gym trainer is already this tough…

"Come on Kira, let's go, one more trainer and it's the leader!" Lynn grabbed my hand and pulled me towards Falkner.

"No Lynn, wait." I stopped in my tracks.

"Huh, why?" Lynn looked back at me and frowned.

"Even after all that you still think we don't need training?" I asked, feet firmly rooted to the wooden pathway no matter how hard Lynn pulled me.

"Um, no?" Lynn said, pulling me even harder, "Let's go already!"

"Lynn, you heard the guy," I gestured to the bird keeper, "They went through some serious training to get to this level, we may have gotten lucky the last time, but are you sure that our luck will last? Especially against the leader?"

"So you're saying that our last battle was a fluke?" Lynn stopped pulling my hand and sniffed a little.

"Eh-h? N-no, I meant…" I didn't realize my words could be interpreted this way.

"Then do you think we can win?" Lynn looked at me with watery eyes.

"Y-yea, of course…" Why is Lynn brought to tears so easily this time…?

"Then let's go!" Lynn grinned suddenly and pulled me again.

Did I just… fall for that?

"No. Lynn. Sprout tower. Now." I tried to force Lynn into listening to me this time. However this time it attracted the attention of the other bird keeper in the gym, coming up to Lynn and I, he turned to me.

"You some kind of big shot?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

"W-what?" I was taken aback by his sudden question, was I acting like some big shot?

"We'll see what happens when you get pushed around up here. Think you'll stagger and fall?" He continued in his menacing tone, edging closer to me.

"Whoa, wait a minute!" I held my hands up in defense, "Why are you even saying that?"

"People here train night and day to become bird Pokémon masters," he continued, "Bring it on!"

With that, he sent out a Pidgeotto… and another Pidgeotto. Why is it the same Pokémon, I have no idea, maybe he just likes Pidgeottos.

"Looks like training will have to wait…" I sighed, "Sparky, you're up again."

"Horsea, your turn this time!" Lynn sent out her Horsea, who looked really happy that it finally got to battle.

"Horsea?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yea, you did say Ea needs more training right?" Lynn said with a wink, "Anyway, Horsea has more firepower and also has Smokescreen, so it should be fine."

"Can we start now?" The bird keeper said with a bored tone.

"Oh, right, sorry." I quickly said to him.

"Horsea, Smokescreen!" Lynn started with a Smokescreen again, this turned out to be a pretty good tactic.

Horsea shot out a ball of ink out of its mouth, which quickly spread and became a thick smoke on the bird keeper's side.

"Sparky, Thundershock on one of the Pidgeottos!" Sparky turned back and looked at me, "Choose one and electrocute." I said with a smirk.

While Sparky started charging, the bird keeper started giving orders as well, I barely made something out when one of the Pidgeottos seemingly disappeared and slammed right into Sparky the next moment.

_Aerial Ace? Holy…_

"Careful, Lynn, this guy is tough, Sparky, you okay?"

"Pi…" Sparky stood up with some effort, but then sparked his cheeks and signaled an A-Okay at me.

Now where's that Pidgeotto… I blinked and flinched back as two blurs appeared and hit Sparky and Horsea again.

"Tch, I can't even see them! Sparky, Thundershock at…" The two Pidgeottos disappeared back into the smoke. Arceus, he's using Horsea's Smokescreen to his advantage?

Come on, I need a plan, a plan… That's it!

"Lynn, order Horsea to use Watergun on the area with the smoke," I said to Lynn, who was halfway in an order.

"Bubblebea— Huh? Okay, Horsea, do a wide angled Watergun!" Lynn looked at me with a confused look.

Horsea sprayed out Watergun over a large area, forming a water foam, the water foam hit the Pidgeottos just as they charged out of the smoke, it didn't do much damage though.

"Sparky, now Thundershock there!" I pointed at the space in between the two charging Pidgeottos.

Sparky started charging electricity, slowly, _come on, come on, come on!_

"Horsea, Bubblebeam! Slow them down!" Lynn seemed to understand my plan.

Horsea shot a stream of bubbles at the two Pidgeottos, hitting one and causing the other one to veer off course in order to dodge it, at that moment, Sparky unleashed a super charged Thundershock, the electric move spread itself out through the water foam and the bubbles, forming a lightning field, hitting both Pidgeottos at once.

The two Pidgeottos crashed to the ground with a thud, both paralyzed from the attack.

"Horsea, Brine! Now!" Lynn shouted with urgently, Horsea shot out boiling hot water at the two Pidgeottos, which proved to be too much for the Pidgeottos, both of them fainted from the attack.

I found myself panting and staring intently at the two Pidgeottos.

"Kira, it's over… We won…" Lynn put a hand on my shoulders.

"…Yea…" I loosened up a bit, I bent down and petted Sparky, "Sparky, good job."

"Pi-chow!" It said happily, suddenly, it glowed a familiar bright white color, I flinched back in surprise. When I looked back, I saw Sparky's form growing bigger, its tail growing longer and its ear turning all pointy. When the glow faded, I noticed that its size didn't really change, everything else remained pretty much the same as well, the only significant changed were its ear and tail.

"Pika!" The newly evolved Sparky cheered, raising a tiny hand in victory.

A Pikachu, how about that… I tapped the PKDEX tab on my Pokégear and pointed it at Sparky.

_Pikachu, Mouse Pokémon._

_It occasionally uses an electric shock to recharge a fellow Pikachu that is in a weakened state._

The bird keeper came over to me and slapped some money on my hand, "Falkner's skills are for real, don't get cocky just because your Pichu evolved." With that, he went away, probably to continue training.

"Sparky is a Pikachu now! You're so cute!" Lynn bent down and picked up Sparky, raising it up and giggling.

"Pi…" Sparky gave a tired smile.

"Lynn, let's go back to the Pokémon center, Sparky and the others need some rest."

Lynn looked reluctant to leave, "Well I suppose you're right…"

We stepped back outside the gym, the city looked a lot livelier than it was in the early morning, there was even a man wearing a pale pink shirt and green overalls looking right at us.

Wait, what?

"Bonjour," he said, coming up to us. "You two are trainer?"

"Yeah… why?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Battle gym leader, win you did?"

"Battle gym leader, we have not." I said with a smirk, Lynn rolled her eyes.

"Is that so? Then prepare shall you! Follow me!"

He ran off, doing a couple twirls as he did so, does he intend for us to follow him?

I looked at Lynn, "It can't hurt, I guess." I said hesitantly.

"Yea… I hope. Remember we still need to finish the gym challenge later."

"Like I'll ever forget about that." I said with a laugh before running off to chase the old man.

He eventually stopped in front of a large building that looks… well… traditional and made out of wood.

"Earl, I am. Here, teacher I am," said the man, pointing to himself. "Good it is you study here!"

"This is a school…?" I smacked my forehead, "Erm, sorry but, we're kinda busy…"

"Special lecturer today, we have," said the man—what was his name? Oh, right, Earl, "Electric type specialist from Hoenn, he is."

"Specialist?" My interests were suddenly sparked, turning to Lynn, I said, "Hey Lynn, wanna go? It might help in our challenge later."

"I'm not going," Lynn shook her head, "I'm going to the Pokécenter first, and then do some training at the Sprout tower for Ea."

"Okay then," I nodded my head, "Let's meet back at the Pokécenter at…" I glanced at the Pokégear on my wrist, "How about 12? It's 9:52 AM now so we'll have about 2 hours to do whatever we want to do."

"Sounds good," Lynn said, walking away, "See you."

"Pi…" Sparky called out tiredly.

"Oh my, Lynn!" I chased after Lynn and handed her Sparky. "Let Sparky rest at the center too, okay?"

"No problem, don't take too long." Lynn took Sparky and Sparky fell asleep in her arms, smiling in its sleep. Lynn smiled and made a 'shush' motion with her free hand.

I grinned and waved good bye to her, turning back to Earl, I said, "Ok then, I'm ready to go."

He did another twirl before leading me to one of the lecture theaters, "Lecturing here, he is."

"Alright, thanks," I pushed open the doors of the lecture theater and…

The entire lecture theater turned back and stared at me.

"Urm, hi?" I gulped and gave an awkward wave.

"Wahahahah, so I'm this popular?" I strained my eyes and saw that the lecturer is this old man with a white beard, he looks really cheerful, though, "Wahahahah, youngster, you're too late, the lecture is already over!"

_What….?_ I was having a shocked face on while the rest of the lecture theater slowly cleared out.

The old man came up to me, "Hello youngster, are you a trainer?"

"Yea, pretty obvious huh," I looked at my belt.

"Wahahahah, you came to get advice on electric type Pokémon to challenge the local gym?" He laughed.

"Yup, pretty much, so, erm, do you have any?"

"Wahahahah, I can't put any advice on words, how about a demonstration battle to show you my tactics?"

"Of course!" I gladly accepted the battle.

…

Ten minutes later, I was left awestruck by the amazing display of electric type battle tactics, of course, my team was absolutely no match against his team.

"Wahahahah, what a battle youngster!" The old man laughed his signature laughter, "I've never had a battle this good! Your Flygon is quite a challenge for me! Almost knocking out my Manectric!"

"Keyword, almost…" I said with a sigh, "And Flygon had one heck of a type advantage too… anyway, I've learned a lot here, thanks, Mr…erm…"

"Wahahahah, I'm Wattson! One of the gym leaders in the soon to-be Hoenn league! Be sure to visit me in Mauvile City if you come to Hoenn!"

_No wonder he's so strong, he is a gym leader, after all_, "I will, thanks again Mr Wattson, I'm Kira, by the way." I bid him farewell.

"Wahahahah, you have potential! That's why I'll give you this! It contains Shockwave!"

"Whoa, thanks Mr Wattson."

"Wahahahah, go forth and endeavor, youngster!"

"I will! Thank you again!" I shouted back at him. Now to heal my fainted team, I sighed and ran towards the Pokécenter.

I made a mad rush towards the nurse at the Pokécenter.

"Whoa slow down!" The nurse's eyes widened when she saw me charging at her.

"Pokém—fainted—lost—" I managed to pant out a few words.

The nurse's eyes went back to normal, "First, let's restore your Pokémon to full health," She smiled and took the four pokéballs from me, and placed them on the miracle machine, "Please visit a Pokémon center when your Pokémon's strength goes down." She turned back to me and said in a lecturing tone.

"Well, didn't really expect that…" I said sheepishly.

"If you're planning to travel any distance, you should stock up on potions at a Pokémart," She continued.

"That… wasn't what happened."

"Your Pokémon have been healed to full health," She handed my team back to me, "Whatever the cause was, good luck!"

"Thanks…" I said as I clipped the pokéballs back on my belt, "Did a girl deposit a Pikachu under the name Kira by any chance?"

"Wait, let me check…" The nurse muttered as she bent down and started checking the registry, "Not this… Nothing here… Nope…" She muttered as she continued searching through her records, "The only Pikachu we have here is a Pikachu deposited under the name Lynn."

I smacked my forehead, she forgot to deposit Sparky under my name?

"Erm, believe it or not, the Pikachu is mine…"

"Right… and I'm your long lost sister." The nurse said sarcastically.

"No, really, just bring it out and see for yourself… and you're a bit too old to be my sister."

"…Alright, but I'm calling the police if it don't recognize you," She frowned and went to the back.

Why is she so serious? Even if I made a mistake by claiming the wrong Pokémon, it's not like I'm trying to steal them, right?

"Here, the Pikachu," The nurse took out a Pokéball and released a Pikachu, "It had better belong to—"

"Pika!" Sparky jumped on my head the moment it came out of its Pokéball.

"See?" I smirked, "And you didn't believe me."

"Okay, okay, you win, we're only taking this precaution because someone did the exact same thing just now and almost manage to steal a Pokémon, if the original trainer didn't come back and stop him in time…" She trailed off.

"I see… So what did he look like?" I asked out of interest.

"He was really weird, saying something like all Pokémon are imprisoned inside their pokéballs and should be liberated," The nurse looked at the celling, trying to remember the guy, "Oh and he was cosplaying as a knight, wearing this odd chainmail."

"… And you let such an odd guy leave?" I raised an eyebrow, Sparky looked taken aback as well.

"Well we were really surprised and he ran off before anyone can react to his weird speech." The nurse said.

"Heh, the world is full of weird people, okay see you sis," I smirked.

"I'm not—!"

"Joking." I waved her goodbye and went to the lobby, "See ya."

…

There was still time before my scheduled meet up with Lynn, so I decided to call Mum.

"Hello?" I heard Mum's voice through the Pokégear's earphones.

"Hey Mum…" I didn't realize how much I missed her right until now.

"Kira! Sweetie! You finally called!"

"It's only been a day Mum…" I said with a flat tone, although I also felt like it was ages since I've last heard her voice, "So how come you weren't working?"

"Well the store was bought over by a multinational cooperation, P and Z or something, since it was on their shield-like badge on their uniform when they came in for the store hand-over." Mum said.

"What? The store was bought over? William actually sold such a profitable business?" I can't believe _anyone _would sell a Pokémart, I mean, it has to be _the most _profitable industry, ever.

"They offered a lot more than what it was worth, anyway William did plan on retiring, so this came as an early bonus." Mum chirped, "As the management committee, I received an amount too!"

"So, what are you going to do for money now, Mum?" So she's… retrenched now?

"Don't worry about me Kira, your dad is still sending back money, remember?" Mum laughed, "Anyway I was hoping that you might start winning battles and send back money."

"Oh, that, I'm taking everything slowly Mum, so there won't be much income from me anytime soon, heh."

"Aww, taking everything slowly for Lynn?"

"W-what? No!" I felt my face heating up.

"Yup, Kira, take it slow, it'll work out some day." I can almost see Mum's signature smile right now.

"I'll rather focus on the Pokémon league challenge as of now…"

"Haha, alright, Kira, talk to you again, my game is starting now, see you!" She hung up abruptly.

…Game…? I stared at the now disconnected call screen, disbelieving what I heard just now, now I see how she spends her free time…

"Hey Sparky, want to learn a new move?" I suddenly remembered the TM Wattson gave me.

"Pi?" Sparky looked confused.

I took out the Shockwave TM CD, "Now how do I use this…"

"Pika!" Sparky suddenly took the CD and put it on his head.

"Wait, what?" I was about to stop him as he looked rather silly, when Sparky's eyes brightened up. The CD's originally yellow color slowly faded to grey and it broke in two.

"So that's how TMs work…" I said to no one in particular, "Now you know Shockwave!" I smiled at Sparky.

"Pika!"

"Kira!"

I turned towards the direction of the voice, and saw Lynn walking towards me, Ea following behind her.

Wait, is that Ea? The Pokémon was larger, and has a dark blue and cream coat, flames on its head and lower back, it did look like Ea to a certain extent.

"Hey Lynn, what's that Pokémon?" I pointed at the Pokémon behind her.

"Oh, you meant Ea? It evolved! It's called Quilava according to the Pokédex!" Lynn said excitedly.

"Oh really?" I tapped the PKDEX tab on the Pokégear and pointed it at the newly evolved Ea.

_Quilava, Volcano Pokémon_

_It intimidates foes with the heat of its flames. The fire burns more strongly when it readies to fight._

"Cool, told you the training at Sprout tower was useful." I said, closing the lid on the Pokégear.

"Erm, actually Kira, Ea evolved after battling a weird guy who challenged me to a battle, he was using a Pokémon that I've never seen before!" Lynn said with an excited voice.

"A weird guy?" I raised an eyebrow, "Looks like there's a lot of weird guys around today… What was he saying?"

"Something about Pokémon and liberation, although I can't really understand him through his thick accent." Lynn scratched her head, her ponytail swishing back and forth, "Wait here, I'm going to the nurse to heal my team and then we'll go to the gym, okay?"

"Sure." While Lynn went to the counter to heal her Pokémon, I started thinking about the strange incidents involving strange guys. Both of them are weird, for starters, and both of them babble about 'Pokémon liberation', now I just need their clothing and I'll know if they're the same guy.

"Hey Lynn, what was the guy wearing?" I went up to the counter and asked her.

"Huh, oh a chainmail! I thought he was doing an excellent job cosplaying as a knight!" Lynn laughed.

"…Right…" So one mystery solved, it should be the same guy, unless there are a lot of people cosplaying Knights around today.

"Kira?"

"Huh?" I blinked and found Lynn's eyes looking right into mine, I quickly looked away, "What?"

"Gym? Now?" Lynn pointed at the door.

"Oh, okay, let's go."

…

"So you two finally came back, I was getting worried that you two whited out of the challenge," Said the guy with blue hair- Falkner, "Let me do a proper introduction, I'm Falkner, the Violet City Pokémon Gym Leader!"

"And I'm Kira, and this is Lynn, so can we start?" I asked eagerly, wanting to get off this extremely high, suspended and not to mention _wooden _platform as soon as possible.

"People say you can clip Flying-type Pokémon's wings with a jolt of electricity…" He looked at Sparky, who stared back at him, cheeks sparking.

"Well, it's only natural, flying types _are _weak against electric type moves…" I muttered.

"I won't allow such insults to bird Pokémon!" Falkner suddenly shouted, I flinched back in surprise, "I'll show you the real power of the magnificent bird Pokémon!" He threw out two pokéballs, which turned out to be… a Pidgeotto and a Noctowl. "Four on Four, let's go."

"Alright, Sparky!" Sparky jumped down and stood in front of me.

"Ea, you're up!" Lynn threw her Quilava's Pokéball.

"Okay Sparky, let's test out your evolution move, Thunderbolt!"

"Ea, use your evolution move as well, Flamewheel!"

Falkner gasped as two semi-advanced moves flew at his Pokémon, but quickly recovered, "Pidgeotto, Aerial Ace to dodge the attack, Noctowl, Light Screen!"

Sparky's Thunderbolt hit empty air and Quilava's Flamewheel bounced off a wall like structure.

"Tch, he's on a totally different level than the other gym trainers." I grimaced as Sparky was hit by the Aerial Ace, "Sparky you okay?"

Sparky got on its feet and gave me an A-Okay sign.

"Good, now Quick Attack on Noctowl, Lynn cover Sparky," I quickly said to Lynn.

"Okay, Ea, Swift!"

Quilava jumped back and opened its mouth, shooting out a wide barrage of stars, the stars knocked into Pidgeotto in midair while it was gaining altitude for another Aerial Ace, while another part of the attack bounced off the wall like structure the Noctowl seemed to be projecting. Sparky dashed in to execute the Quick Attack.

"Noctowl, Fly!" Falkner ordered at the last minute. The Noctowl suddenly flapped its wings and flew up high, causing Sparky's attack to miss. "Pidgeotto, Mudslap on the Pikachu!"

The Pidgeotto descended and started kicking mud on Sparky, blinding it.

"Sparky, while it's on the ground, Thunderbolt at it!" Sparky spun around and shot out electric bolts at the Pidgeotto, only to miss, by a wide margin.

"Ahh dammit, try the new move! Shockwave!" Sparky jumped up and started to spark.

"Pidgeotto! Stop it! Don't let it use that attack!" Falkner suddenly shouted with urgency, "Noctowl put up the best Light Screen you can!"

Sparky released a large sphere of electricity, with it as the center, hitting everything in its path, including the charging Pidgeotto.

The Pidgeotto was knocked back and fell to the ground, knocked out by the combined damage from the Shockwave attack and the fall. Noctowl barely hung on, even with the Light Screen blocking most of the damage from Shockwave.

Falkner returned the Pidgeotto to its Pokéball and closed his eyes for a while, as if mourning for his Pidgeotto, before grabbing another Pokéball, "The wind is finally with us…" He said, holding the Pokéball close to his chest for a moment before throwing it.

A huge bird came out of the Pokéball, my eyes widened with recognition, a Pidgeot!

…

A/N: A cliffhanger? Treat it as my apology for the extremely late update (joking), school has been… hectic isn't even enough to describe it. And to top it off, the assignments are coming like tidal waves, so I didn't even have time at night to write this. Anyways… double battles are so hard to write, especially since everything finishes in a single turn in my own double battles. Yea, yes, I know Pikachu doesn't learn Thunderbolt upon evolution, but hey, I figured it'll be more exciting. And if anyone noticed, that Pokédex of Pikachu and Quilava came from the Unova Pokédex, I figured if the OS came from there then the info would be too. Hoho, first trace of the criminal organization, no mystery as to who they are… right? No reviews for the last chapter? =( come on, at least tell me what went wrong, if any… or is everyone busy with their term tests? That aside, please review this chapter! Tell me what you think about this story and what can make it better, okay? Thank you in advance!


	6. First Gym badge and an unexpected twist

The Latios Chaser

Chapter 6

Part I: The Legend begins

"The wind is finally with us…"Falkner said, holding the Pokéball close to his chest for a moment before throwing it.

A huge bird came out of the Pokéball, my eyes widened with recognition, a Pidgeot!

The huge bird screeched loudly, spread its magnificent wings and hovered in front of Falkner, who was smirking slightly.

"So this is his trump card… Sparky can you continue?" I asked the panting Pikachu, Sparky wiped the mud off its eyes and nodded, I turned to Lynn, "Lynn, I need you to cooperate with me on this, we can't beat this guy by pure force."

"Then use Flygon!" Lynn hissed at me.

I looked at Sparky. "Not yet… I want to try something."

Pidgeot started flapping its wings and a strong wing started to blow, grabbing our attention, I watched in awe as each flap of its magnificent wings generated more wind.

"Kira snap out of it!" Lynn yelled over the howling wind that Pidgeot is producing, "Ea don't stop your barrage, keep that Noctowl down!"

I shook my head, "Sparky, whatever it's doing, don't let it do it! Thunderbolt!"

Sparky nodded and shot out a powerful bolt of electricity at the hovering Pidgeot.

"Noctowl! Block it with Light Screen! Protect Pidgeot at all costs!" Falkner exclaimed.

The Light Screen Noctowl was putting up seemed to materialize on its own for a split second, protecting the now moving Noctowl from the Swift barrage Ea was putting up. It flew towards Pidgeot and materialized yet another Light Screen in front of Pidgeot, which blocked Sparky's Thunderbolt.

Correction—_almost _blocking Sparky's Thunderbolt.

Being conjured up in a hurry, the Light Screen wasn't as sturdy as the one before, it seemingly stopped the Thunderbolt, but was shattered by the sheer force from the attack, the Thunderbolt continued towards the Pidgeot, which was still gathering more wind, Noctowl swiftly positioned itself in front of Pidgeot and took the entire Thunderbolt attack by itself.

It shrieked in pain and dropped a few meters, before flapping its wings and rising up again.

"Ea, Quick Attack into a Flame Wheel at the Pidgeot! Knock it down!" Lynn seemed to understand the 'co-operation' part.

Noctowl flew in quickly to block Ea, taking on another full force attack. Ea dropped back onto the pathway, while Noctowl steadied itself in front of Pidgeot, determination all over its face.

"Darn it! That Noctowl feels like some kind of wall! Why is it protecting Pidgeot so much?" I frowned, Falkner's lips suddenly twitched upwards, _oh crap_, "Sparky, get back! Lynn! Get Ea out of there!" I shouted.

"Pidgeot! Now, Hurricane!" Falkner exclaimed, putting his hand in front of him, as if aiming Pidgeot's attack.

"Ea, get away! Quickly!" Lynn shouted desperately.

I watched helplessly as Ea and Sparky struggled escape from the monstrous tornado Pidgeot whipped up, although they are doing their best to outrun the tornado, they were still caught in it, the monstrous tornado swept both Ea and Sparky up into the air, Lynn gasped and covered her eyes.

"Sparky! Try to break the tornado! Use Shockwave!" I shouted over the loud howling noises that came from the Hurricane attack.

While in the air, Sparky began to spark again. I think I saw Falkner's mouth moving a bit, as the entire battlefield was lit up by a blinding yellow light from the Shockwave attack.

As the light and wind died down, I saw Ea collapse on the platform, knocked out. Sparky was on the platform, panting, worn out from taking on Pidgeot's attack and doing a Shockwave at the same time. Both Noctowl and Pidgeot were on the platform too, _did Sparky knock them out?_

"Aerial Ace."

My eye widened as Pidgeot sprang up all of a sudden, "Sparky, dod—!" But Sparky was too drained after executing shock wave, it barely even turned to face Pidgeot when Pidgeot dived in and sent it flying backwards, it landed on the edge of the platform, knocked out, "—ge…"

"Roost," Falkner said with a slight smirk, "It allows bird Pokémon to recover their strength and removes the Flying type attribute from them for a while."

"Which means the damage from Sparky's Shockwave just now was cut down by half…" I finished the sentence for him, returning Sparky to its Pokéball, "Good job buddy…"

"Yes, did you honestly think that after so many defeats at the hands of electric type Pokémon we didn't come up with any countermeasures?" He continued with that light smirk of his.

"Not for one second…" I muttered as I grabbed Flygon's Pokéball, eyeing the Pidgeot, "Flygon, Earthquake!"

Flygon materialized out of its Pokéball and immediately sent a large fissure moving towards the two bird Pokémon.

"Noctowl, Pidgeot, Fly!" Falkner shouted immediately.

Noctowl sprang into the air in a flash but Pidgeot moved with some difficulty.

"Pidgeot, what's wrong?" Falkner winced as Pidgeot was engulfed in the fissure, taking damage.

"One thing I've learned from Wattson is that, the Static ability of certain electric types can become real useful, or annoying, sometimes," I feel like it's my turn to smirk, "While your Pidgeot did indeed knock Sparky out, Sparky's Static ability paralyzed your Pidgeot, and now…" I directed my palm at Pidgeot, "Flygon, finish it! Dragon Claw!"

"Noctowl, don't let it near Pidgeot!"

As Flygon charged in on the paralyzed Pidgeot, Noctowl positioned itself in front of Pidgeot again, blocking it off.

"Okay Flygon, change of target, grab Noctowl with your Dragon Claw and if you can do an Earthquake at the same time!"

"Noctowl dodge that Dragon Claw and use Psychic to stop Flygon! Pidgeot, Fly! Come on!"

Noctowl swirled around and tried to dodge Flygon's Dragon Claw, but Flygon is faster than it, Flygon caught Noctowl in its glowing claws and went right down. Smashing Noctowl on the platform and sending another wave of fissure towards Pidgeot just as it started to flap its wings. A cloud of dust erupted from the Platform and Flygon flew out of it, leaving Noctowl and Pidgeot knocked out on the Platform.

Falkner was left speechless.

"Uh, Kira?" I heard Lynn call out to me.

"What, Lynn? Come on, send out Horsea, one more Pokémon to go and we'll win!" I said without turning back at her.

"Urm, you might want to look around you…"

"Huh?" I looked away from the battlefield and gulped, as a result of Flygon using Earthquake on a platform made out of _wood_, the platform has cracks of various sizes forming on it, and some are growing longer and wider by the moment.

Flygon landed on the platform.

_Oh crap._

Having a 180 pound Dragon landing on an already cracking platform is definitely _not _a good idea. The cracking process escalated and huge cracks began to form on the platform.

"Flygon!" I called out at Flygon and jumped on to it just as the platform under my feet gave away, "That was close..." I said with a sigh. _Is Lynn okay? _I looked around, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Kiraaaaaaaa!" _Oh no, oh no no no no no. _

"Lynn!" I directed Flygon downwards towards the source of the voice, "You can do this, right? Flygon!" Flygon answered with a high pitched roar and dived downwards.

Lynn was dropping straight through the air with the wooden splinters, flailing her arms.

"Lynn! Grab my hand!" I reached out towards her as Flygon adjusted its speed to match Lynn's falling speed. Lynn reached out and grabbed onto my hand.

I started to pull her in, "Don't worry, I'll get us through this!" I said reassuringly at Lynn,

Then I felt the tug of gravity and slipped off Flygon.

I ended up falling along with Lynn.

"Kira, you idiot! If you want to save me, save me properly!" Lynn closed her eyes and screamed.

"Dammit, Flygon!" I yelled for Flygon as I fell through the air. Flygon swopped in low and caught both Lynn and I on its back.

Flygon landed on the ground level of the gym and looked at me with disappointment, if a Dragon could sigh, it would do it now.

I got off Flygon and found myself panting with sharp inhalations in between. Lynn was sitting on Flygon with a dazed look.

"You two okay?" Falkner asked as he stepped off a metallic looking bird Pokémon.

"Yea…" I said, still panting slightly, "Lynn? You hurt anywhere?"

"Huh?" Lynn looked up, "Uh, no…"

"So we're all good…" I muttered to Falkner.

"That's good," Falkner put his hands on his hips, "The battle can't continue as the battle arena is destroyed," He turned looked disappointedly at the metallic bird Pokémon that he got off, "But I've seen enough, I'll bow out gracefully, or would you rather we resume the battle somewhere else?" He turned back and smiled.

"Huh?" I think I didn't quite get that… Did he just say… "I'll take the badge," I grinned at him.

"Kira we won!" Lynn suddenly woke up from her trance, jumped down from Flygon, and started hugging me.

"U-uh, Lynn—I—" Oh great, here comes the tomato face…

Falkner looked at Lynn and me with an amused face.

…

"Wait, you mean you two started the League challenge without proper badge cases?" Falkner said disbelievingly.

"Uh, yea, sorry about that," I said sheepishly.

We returned to the gym after Falkner made some 'emergency cleanup' of the gym, which mostly included clearing the fallen wooden platform.

"Good thing we're prepared then, Rod!" Falkner called for a Gym trainer, turned out he's the one that threatened to push me off that platform.

"Yes Falkner?" Rod came up and asked in a sincere tone that I can't really picture him using.

"Get two badge cases from the storage room."

"But, Falkner, you didn't lose!" Rod looked to be completely shattered from the news.

"We can't continue that battle like this, and they've done enough to earn the badge," Falkner said in a formal tone.

"If you say so…" Rod glared at me before going to the storage room. Like I've done anything wrong… Besides demolishing the platform…

"Sorry about that, Rod holds me in the highest regard, so beating me is like breaking his perfect image of me," Falkner turned back to us and said apologetically.

"Right…"

"What a douche," Lynn crossed her arms and huffed.

Both Falkner and I burst out laughing.

Rod soon came back, he handed Falkner two badge cases and left, but not before giving me another glare.

"For pity's sake," Falkner said as he watched Rod walking away, "Alright, now that everything's settled," Falkner reached into his Kimono and took out two gray badges shaped like wings handed them to us along with the badge cases. "This is the official Pokémon League badge, Zephyr Badge, It enables you to use the hidden move Rock Smash anytime outside of battle."

"Wow, thanks," I took the badge from him and stared admiringly at it. My first official gym badge… I heard Lynn giggling beside me.

"Oh, before I forget," Falkner said suddenly, "Here, take this with you."

He handed both Lynn and I a CD case that is similar to the ones Wattson and the Elder gave me.

"By using a TM, a Pokémon will instantly learn a new move," he said with a small nod. "Think before you act—a TM can be used only once. The TM I gave you contains Roost. It restores about half the strength of the Pokémon using it and negates the flying type attribute from the one using it."

"Yea, I know, you've already told me before, remember?" I put my hand on my hips, remembering that little incident a while ago that almost made me think that I'll lose.

He smiled himself, and said, "There are Pokémon Gyms in cities and towns ahead. You should make good use of them. As for your next move… I suggest Azalea Town or Goldenrod City. For now, I'm going to rebuild the gym and train even harder, the journey to become the greatest Bird Keeper of all isn't complete yet!"

"Azalea or Goldenrod, huh…" I quieted down, thinking about which gym to challenge next.

"Goldenrod?" Lynn could barely contain the excitement in her voice, "That's where the department store is! Let's go shopping!"

"…How did you know that?" I raised an eyebrow. As far as I know, she had never stepped out of Blackthorn ever since we became neighbors about six or seven years ago, "Don't tell me you got that from regional history, because I'm very sure that they don't teach such stuff."

"I did move in to Blackthorn from Goldenrod, silly," Lynn suddenly looked down, "When my Father…"

"Ah yes! Goldenrod! Uh, shopping! Yes! Uh, bye Falkner!" I quickly put up a cheerful face and said that loudly while pushing Lynn out of the gym.

Once outside, I turned to face Lynn, "Lynn, don't cry, it's okay… Uh…" I struggled to find words to comfort her, "You said shopping, right?" I put on an unconvincing smile.

"Kira, I…" Lynn looked up with teary eyes, for real this time, "I miss him…"

"Uh, it's okay… Lynn… It's okay…" I said again lamely, dammit why does the part of my brain that houses vocabulary malfunctions when I'm in situations like this? "I'm here, right?" I smiled and put my hands on her shoulder. I heard that's supposed to be comforting…

"Kira…" Lynn hugged me suddenly and cried into my chest.

"It's alright… It's alright…" I returned the hug and stroke her hair slowly, although I can feel my face burning from her close contact.

"Don't leave me too, okay, Kira?" Lynn looked up and sniffed.

I could feel my face heating up even more from her words, "Uh, yea of course, I won't leave you, I like you…as a friend." I quickly added in the last part.

"I knew I've chosen a good friend," Lynn slowly wiped the tears off her eyes and smiled, "I'm okay now Kira… You can let go of me now."

"Hm? Oh uh o—okay," I quickly loosened my embrace. I think my face is so red that it's visible a mile off.

"Let's go back to the Pokécenter, I need to heal Ea."

"Y-yea, Sparky needs healing too…"

…

"Alright, now we can go shopping!" Lynn said excitedly as we walked through the streets of Violet city, having just left the Pokémon center.

I glanced at her with of the corner of my eye, is she pretending that whatever that happened just now didn't happen?

"It's actually quite far away," I said, looking at my Pokégear, "We'll have to go through two routes and… a National Park? It should take us another 5 or 6 hours' worth of trekking to go there."

"Nope we won't," Lynn said with a wink, "There are shuttle buses that fetch people from different cities to Goldenrod Department store to shop, so if we get on that, we should be able to get there really quickly!"

"Really?" Why does Lynn always seems to know stuff that I don't?

"Yes, now all we have to do is to go to the bus stop," Lynn did a 360 turn, and her shoulders fell, "I just don't know where it is…"

"Well I'm sure we can find it," I said with a smile, "Let's ask around."

"Excuse me!" yelled someone, which surprised me, we turned to look behind us and saw a man running up to us, he was wearing a gray button-up shirt and brown pants, looking like a typical store clerk.

"I'm sorry to have startled you, but do you two know where the shuttle bus to Goldenrod City is?" He came up to us, panting.

Lynn and I both shook our heads in response, "Sorry, but we're kind of looking for it ourselves." I smiled apologetically at the man.

"Oh…" He looked disappointed, "This is supposed to be my first day at work, I recently got a job at the department store, they told me that there are shuttle buses that run from every city, but I just can't find it!" He threw his hands up in exasperation.

"How about—"I was going to suggest that we look for it together when his Pokégear started ringing.

"WHERE. THE HELL. ARE YOU?" Although the Pokégear wasn't on loudspeaker mode, Lynn and I can hear it loud and clear, I feel sorry for the man's ears.

"Uh, s-sorry boss, I can't find the shuttle bus in Violet City," the man stammered into the Pokégear.

Whatever I heard next is too vulgar for anyone, but let's just say the man got one hell of a verbal bombardment.

"Hey, erm, you okay?" Lynn went up to the now silent man.

"Y-yes, I'm okay, and the bus stop is there," He pointed at the road leading out of the city, "It's at route 36, no wonder I can't find it…"

"Then let's go," I said, steadied my backpack and started walking towards route 36.

"Right behind you!" Lynn ran up to me cheerfully. The man followed us with a worried look.

"Hey don't worry!" I put a hand on his shoulder, "The most they'll do is to dock your pay for the day or something, since it's already afternoon."

"Thanks," The man looked up and smiled, "Let's hurry, you don't want to miss your bus."

"Okay, let's go," We ran towards the bus stop, now visible and already has a bus stopped there.

…

I would love to tell you about the bus ride to Goldenrod city, with all the scenery and stuff, but I fell asleep the moment I found a seat on the bus, so I missed everything on the way.

"Why do you have to sleep every time?" Lynn asked me, we're taking the elevator from the underground parking complex that the bus stopped.

"Well, I'm not the one with the window seat, right? So I got bored, and when I get bored, I sleep, simple." I yawned.

"You missed all the scenery! National park was so beautiful!" Lynn said with an exaggerated tone.

"I'm sure we can see it again," I continued in my bored tone.

"Whatever, for now, let's go shopping!" Lynn pulled me by hand and dragged me through the huge store. Sparky came out of its Pokéball and followed along as well.

Why does it not surprise me that the first department that Lynn dragged me to is the clothing department?

"How's this, Kira?" Lynn said as she opened the doors of the changing room. She was wearing this purple top with a tight fitting skirt, kind of like an air stewardess.

"Yea, it looks good," I said sleepily, Sparky clapped its hands together and looked up with sparkly eyes.

Lynn frowned and went back inside, she appeared again a minute later with a different set-up, this time a black one-piece dress that hugged her body nicely and a red long-sleeved top.

"How about this then?" She smiled and did a slight pose, showing her curves.

Sparky continued keeping its hands together and continued looking at Lynn with sparkly eyes.

"Yea, not bad, I think it's good." I yawned. Any other day when I'm awake, I would have said something different but, you can't just ask a sleepy guy to evaluate clothes.

"Why does it seem that you don't care?" Lynn put her hands on her hips and puffed out her cheeks, "Anything's good to you!"

"Uh, um, no, that's not what I meant…" I help my hands up in defense. Sparky laughed at the scene.

"Then?" Lynn leaned forward and asked in a threatening tone.

"Er… As long as it's you, anything's good!" I smiled sheepishly.

"If you really meant that, I'll be flattered," Lynn rolled her eyes.

"Pika!" Sparky jumped up my shoulder and gave Lynn a thumbs up.

"See? Even Sparky says you look good!"

"Then I'll take both sets," Lynn stuck her tongue out at me, "And you're paying for it!"

"W-what?" I looked at the price tag and gave a slight shiver, I do have enough but it'll practically be everything single cent I own! "Lynn, I'll be bankrupt if I pay for both sets…"

"Then I'll take this set," Lynn pointed at the one that she's wearing, "And you can't say no!"

"Okay, okay," My hands went up in defense again, Lynn changed back to her own set of T-shirt and jeans and placed the red and black set in the shopping basket.

"Yay, okay, now that my share is done, your turn!" Lynn said cheerfully and went to the men's section.

I laughed and followed her, as if she can make me buy anything.

A while later, my hands were up in defense again, "No Lynn, I'm not wearing that thing," I said, horrified that Lynn wanted to use me as her model, and to top it off, _hats?_

"Aww come on, be a sport Kira, just try this one on!" Lynn handed me _another_ weird hat.

"…Fine, but this is the last one." I grimaced as I put the hat on.

I turned to look at the mirror, to be honest, that hat didn't really look that bad, it's headband shaped part is primarily black, with two red semicircles in front, but the thing is…

"It makes me look like someone with really long and spiky white hair wearing a black and red headband…" I turned around and told Lynn.

"It adds a bit more color to your usual attire!" Lynn pointed at the spiky white part of the hat, "And that part makes you look cool." Lynn grinned.

"Still…" I took the hat down, "It's just not normal…"

"It's fashionable in Hoenn!" Lynn said in a desperate attempt to get me to buy the hat.

I sighed, "Fine, I'll buy it, just… don't expect me to wear it often." I threw the hat in the shopping basket.

There goes more of my money…

The store clerk sighed when it was my turn to pay, why? Because it costs a lot and most notes and coins I have are change from various trainers I've battled along the way. Imagine paying for something expensive with coins, that's the situation I'm in now.

"Trainers…" The clerk muttered as he counted the money that was paid to him, "You know, you can get a trainer card that will digitalize all the money that you've got, the closest bank that offer such services is right here in Goldenrod, you should really go and get one, it'll make our job easier, too." He finished counting the money and took out a piece of paper, "Here, a voucher for spending so much, its usable in any Pokémart branches, although the number decreased when some company named PZ or something bought over some of our branches."

"Oh, I'll take note on that, the trainer card, too," I thanked him and turned towards the exit of the department store, only to be stopped by a familiar face.

"Yo, chibi!"

I stared at that face, mouth wide open in surprise.

"What, chibi, don't recognize your mentor anymore?" The familiar face smirked.

"Hi Raven!" Lynn came out from behind me and greeted Raven.

"Hey Lynn," Raven's smirk turned into a smile, "I always knew you two had something going on, so, you two on a date?"

"Uh…" I could feel my face heating up from Raven's comment.

"Urm, no, Kira's just a friend, we're just passing by Goldenrod in our journey, so we decided to stop here and shop."

I sighed, friendzoned, I'm sad. I stayed silent while Lynn and Raven played catching up.

"So, chibi, finally attained the DragonKeeper title huh?" Raven turned to me suddenly.

"Hm, yea," Then I realized what he was calling me, "Stop calling me that! I'm not short anymore!"

"Haha, you're always that short kid that I first met some years ago," He reached over and messed up my hair, "Besides, calling you chibi almost makes you feel cute."

Lynn sniggered, I blew out some air, "I'm going to the toilet." I stood up suddenly and walked over to the nearest toilet. For someone that all but disappeared about two months ago, he's being real jerk, or I could just be angry at him for walking out of my life so suddenly when he was supposed to guide me.

"_Relax, Clair'll be here to tutor you, even if I'm gone for a long period of time." I recalled Raven saying that as he walked away._

"Dammit that's not the point!" I shouted in the toilet, some guy beside me looked at me like I was insane.

I walked back to the Department store's lobby, "Raven, how about a battle, now." I said to a surprised Raven.

"As much as I hate to turn down a battle from my mentee, I don't have any Pokémon with me, they're all in the Pokécenter across the pedestrian street," Raven said with a wave of his hand.

"Then let's go," I said with a serious tone, "We're done shopping anyway."

"Kira what's gotten into you?" Lynn asked in surprise.

"Nothing, just wanted to challenge him," I continued in that same serious tone.

When we stepped outside of the store, we saw a large crowd gathering on the street just outside the store.

"Looks like something's going on! Look!" Lynn pointed at the large crowd that gathered at the center of the street.

I looked at the direction she's pointing, a man in green hair and a red eyepiece over his right eye that looked to be in his thirties in standing in front of the crowd making some speech.

"Let's go and see what's going on," Raven said to Lynn and I, we nodded in unison.

"Hello, people of Johto, my name is Ghetsis," The man began, "I'm here representing the company P n Z."

"Is he a public relations officer or something?" Lynn asked with a little laugh.

"Shh, listen," Raven put a finger on his lips and said.

"Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about Pokémon liberation." Ghetsis continued.

"Is he…" I narrowed my eyes and muttered under my breath.

"I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and Pokémon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other," He paused to let that statement go through the crowd, some people among the crowd nodded, "However… Is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that maybe we humans… only assumed it's the truth?"

"Pokémon are subjected to the selfish commands of trainers, they get pushed around when they are our 'partners' at work…" He paused again, "Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth in what I am saying?"

He does have a point… But that's normal, isn't it? I mean, we help each other!

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, Pokémon are different from humans, they are living beings that contain unknown potential." He sure likes pausing during his speech, "They are living beings whom we humans have much to learn. So tell me, what is our responsibility towards these wonderful beings called Pokémon?" He paused again, as if waiting for an answer from the crowd.

When no answer came from the crowd, he shouted to the crowd, holding out a fist and waving it, "We must liberate Pokémon! Then, and only then! Will Pokémon and humans truly be equals! Everyone! I end my words here today by imploring you to reconsider your relationship between you and your Pokémon… And the correct way to proceed!"

He then bowed, "We sincerely appreciate your attention." and made his way off.

"About that speech…" I turned to Raven and Lynn.

Raven grinned, "We're not that dumb as to believe someone like that, look at the crowd." He gestured to the crowd, some are laughing at the speech, saying that it's impossible, some are shaking their heads, while finally there are people like me staying silent.

"When we 'liberate' our Pokémon, what happens? Will they, the only ones with Pokémon, hold power?" Raven continued, "They are a dangerous bunch, thes people, I hope that they're not another Team Rocket in the making."

"I'll rather not think of it this way," I said, "Anyone that emotional during their speeches surely believe in their cause, come on, Raven, don't be so cynical about the world." I smiled, but that smile lacked confidence.

"So…" Lynn began, "What happens now?"

"We'll do whatever we're supposed to do! Of course," Raven laughed, "Don't let some weird guy spoil your day! Well, what's left of it." He looked at the setting sun, "Hey Chibi, you wanted a battle, right?"

"… I… I'm not sure…" I muttered, "I mean, it's getting late anyway, how about we call it a day and do whatever we wanted to do tomorrow?"

"Raven? What about you?" Lynn asked.

"Me? I'll stay in Goldenrod for a while, then go back to Blackthorn, I bet Lola misses me," He laughed, "So I'm available for battle, Chibi." He directed that last sentence at me.

"Right…" I muttered without looking at him and went in the Pokécenter.

Once I received my room, I lied down on the bed and thought about that man… Ghetsis's speech. Pokémon and people, are their relations really as twisted as he claims?

…

A/N: Whew! Finally got this out before my examination period starting from next week, so there would be a semi-hiatus status for this story until the end of June/start of July. And if you think a level 68++ Pidgeot can't be defeated by a Flygon, well, I did an experiment on an NPC trainer's Pidgeot(which was level 63), if you use Thunderwave on it and all that, even my level 48 Dragonair can defeat it, just saying… And nope, I'm not skipping Azalea town, it has a gym after all, I just don't like caves (darn the Zubats). Oh by the way, I actually borrowed some scenes… if anyone recognizes them… and in case anyone can't visualize that hat from my description, it's the hat from the main character in Ruby/Sapphire versions. Chibi means 'shorty' in Japanese. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

P.S sorry about the spelling errors from before, the site somehow doesn't let me use (P n Z) for some reason, so I'll stick to PZ.


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